Hi, So I Haven't posted in quite a while and I've been writing lately to pass time and help with my mental space. I thought that I might post some stories again although, I am having trouble writing actively so just be aware there might be some time between updates in the future, I get writing block a lot. I hope you enjoy the story.

I want to make this story accessible to those who might have limited knowledge about Destiny, but I also don't want to drag the story down, so I hope I can get the balance right.

I do not own Destiny/ Destiny 2, or the characters included in my story other than my own characters.


Chapter 1:


The girl sat with a scowl and fiddled with a bracelet made of glass beads, trying to ignore everyone around her stubbornly. Her mother was smothering her, not allowing her to go off on her own. This had been a problem since the city had fallen months ago and the girl thought it was stupid, there weren't even any cabal in the city anymore, who did she think was going to hurt her? Honestly... She looked around trying to stave off boredom while her mother chatted to a bunch of other adults that she didn't care to listen too right now. The girl was fifteen with tanned skin and a mess of black hair framed her face in curls. They were waiting for their lunch to be brought out, it was a slow process since half the building lay in ruins and the kitchen only just managed to be running as it was. The cabal had well and truly done a great job in destroying most of the city in one fell swoop, this place was just one of the victims spread across the city.

No one had expected them, not even the legendary guardians of the city. The morning of the attacks was quite dismal. dark angry looking thunderclouds hung over the city, the day had started out ordinarily enough and she was about to leave the house with her parents when a thunderous explosion sounded from somewhere outside. people rushed outside to investigate, only to discover that the tower had become a burning torch against the black sky. people panicked as smaller sounds started exploding through the city as cabal ships flew overhead, cabal drop pods began to rain down with explosive force. When the traveller was caged, the guardians seemed doomed to fail and she herself had seen the light ripped out of a guardian who had taken to protecting her and a bunch of other people she was with. the Guardian remembered with precise detail how the guardian could barely breath and collapsed with shock, the ghost became a black empty shell on the ground beside her. The guardian told everyone to run as she managed to find the strength to stand, not for long however and a deafening bang signalled the end of our protector. When the red legion finally fell, many guardians didn't come back, and those that did wore their lessons in a painful reminder of their mortality as they grieved for those who could no longer come back.

Many things changed after the war and one of those things was how the guardians were treated, many people blamed them for the loss of life, if the guardians had been better prepared then perhaps we wouldn't have lost so many, there had always been a gap between guardians and normal people but now guardians barely came down from their tower without a reason. You could still see the odd guardian around doing patrols or errands, but they didn't make eye contact with people anymore, much less spoke. As they walked past, men and women alike would shoot accusing glares and make offhand remarks. I don't think many saw the guilt that followed some guardians around an instead people just wanted someone to blame. The girl herself missed seeing guardians in the last city, she thought it stupid to blame the guardians for everything, but what did a kid know she supposed. She sighed and brought herself back to reality as she overheard her mother's conversation.

"the nerve… They should all they stay in their towers" her mother grumbled, shooting a dirty look up to what remained of a second floor.

Her friends nodded in agreement "we are better off without the guardians, honestly…".

The girl looked up to where the insults were being sent and she was surprised to see not only one guardian but three, a hunter, warlock and titan. The girl began watching them with interest going back to ignoring the adults, sending a scowl in their general direction. After a few minutes, it seemed like the room had become toxic, people muttered under their breath, obviously pissed that the guardians were here. It was then that she made her mind and stood muttering a lazy excuse before leaving the table, not that her mother noticed. Looking around the room, there were no steps up to where they were, and since it was the second floor they were on, it was almost impossible for her to get up there without help, which she adamantly refused to ask for. The guardians didn't seem to notice her interest in them which pleased her. her plan was to causally walk up to them and say hi.

After scanning the room, she tried to walk outside subtly in the hope there was a way up there instead. There was no front of the shop and the sides had also crumbled so it was easy to get around to the side of the building where she lit up, there was a huge pile of rubble which she could use to get up to the second floor. She moved over to the rubble and started climbing it without a second thought and it was going fine until she got half way up and suddenly a brick gave way underneath her. It caused a domino effect and suddenly she felt herself trying to keep her balance, it wasn't long before she started falling back and she instinctively reached up with desperation. Just when she thought she would fall and be buried by rubble; she felt a strong grip around her hand, and she fell against the building as the rubble fell beneath her. She was now hanging, and she looked up to see the titan kneeling above her on the edge. The titan waved her other hand as if telling her to reach up, with a big effort, she reached up and the titan grabbed her other hand tightly before pulling her up effortlessly. As the titan stood, she put me on the floor away from the edge, letting go now that the she was safe.

The girl looked around with a grateful sigh, her heart beating a million miles an hour. all three guardians were looking at her, she could tell that much despite all of them wearing helmets that she couldn't see through. She suddenly felt very nervous and went red with embarrassment, she had hoped to be a lot smoother than that "uh… thanks" she murmured before looking at the floor awkwardly. The titan nodded before bringing her hands up to her neck and looked up as she fiddled with her armour, a sudden hiss sounded from her and the titan brought her hands to her helmet, lifting it off her head.

The woman held her helmet one hand and ran her other through her hair, combing the messy bob with her fingers before she smiled at the girl "are you ok? That was a bit of a tumble", she eyed the girl with mild worry.

The girl nodded before realizing her wrists kind of hurt, but it wasn't a big deal "thanks… I was just…" she trailed off, too embarrassed to say what she was trying to do.

The titan shrugged "no biggie, I am just glad you're ok, what were you after?" she looked curious as if searching for a reason other than herself and the other guardians.

The girl shifted even more awkwardly and avoided the titans eyes for a moment before clearing her throat "I just wanted to check out the second floor…" she bit her lip looking moody, she found herself wanting to tell the truth, the titan seemed friendly enough "…and I kind of thought it might be cool to say hello" she paused and gave a moody glare downstairs "I'd rather not stay down there..".

The titan looked surprised and the guardians all glanced downstairs curiously before returning their gaze to the girl, the titan then smiled and kneeled before holding out her hand 'a pleasure to meet you then".

The girl shook her hand in reply and nodded "yeah... you too…".

The titan moved to sit on the ground with a peaceful sigh "welcome to the guardians seclude then, my name is Elsie" she mused playfully, her positivity drowned out the hatred for the guardians in the room, helping the girl feel a little bit at ease.

The girl shifted to face the guardians before shooting them all a shy smile "you can call me Mel, uh, thank you again for saving me..." she blushed again and cleared her throat "I was going to make a much cooler entrance in head" she hoped that she was covering up her embarrassment a little.

the other two guardians stood to the side a bit awkwardly, glancing down over the crowd below before sitting down with the titan and relaxing as the titan had started defusing the situation. the titan however was already clearly quite comfortable and laughed at Mel's comment "if it makes a difference, I thought you were cool" she smiled and leaned over and punched her shoulder lightly "and saving is what we do, don't worry about it".

Mel nodded in response and smiled noticing what the titan looked like. Elsie had bulky amour, expected of a titan. She was as huge as her title suggested; fur lined her shoulders surrounded with two large shoulder plates. The rest of her armour made her look quite slim. the titan herself glowed; she was from the race of awoken with purple skin almost pale violet in colour with freckles on her face. her hair was dark purple and hung in a short bob that looked as though it hung straight and neat normally, it was messy because he had taken her helmet off, she guessed. light danced across her skin making Mel's eyes go wide with surprise as she'd never seen an awoken up close before. her eyes were lit up so brightly they looked white.

the titan seemed to notice her staring and playfully made a pose as if modelling "do I look good? I'm wearing my best armour today" she grinned.

Mel blushed before stifling a giggle "sorry... I just, I've never met a guardian before... or seen an awoken in person..." she sighed with awe "your beautiful... and your amour is nice too" she added. Mel glanced at the other guardians and noticed that they too were taking their helmets off. she was stunned when all three of the guardians turned out to be awoken.

the hunter looked quite like the titan only her hair seemed to be longer and it was pulled up into a loose and messy bun behind her. the warlock however looked a bit wild, her hair was bright reddish, almost orange in colour and she looked like she'd been struck by lightning as her hair stood on its ends around her head, almost like a swirling sun, she had a neat bang that made the front of her hair look neater though. the hunter gave off a colder vibe but still had a smile, the warlock however looked excited.

"Mel was it?" the warlock questioned before offering her hand "it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Skye".

Mel took her hand and shook it with a nod "a pleasure to meet you too" she glanced around at the three "you guys look like sisters, the prettiest sisters I've ever seen' she complimented.

the hunter offered her hand with a chuckle "funny you should say that, we are sisters, my name is Anne, a pleasure".

Mel smiled before looking thoughtful "I didn't think things like sisters existed among the guardians to be honest, I was told that most guardians were people who'd been revived" she looked at the guardians with interest.

Kay was the first to speak "well technically you are correct, but family is who you choose, even among guardians, comradely is important when you're fighting together after all" she smiled.

Elsie spoke up next "for sure, most of us have no history and only know what they have done in their guardian lives, we create new lives and families" she smiled.

Mel nodded thoughtfully "so how did you guys become guardians? What is it like?" she looked curiously at the three. the guardians showed mixed emotions as the questions seemed to bring back memories.

"being a guardian is great in a lot of ways, but it has it's down sides too, the pleasant things beat the unpleasant though" Elsie spoke thoughtfully, "as for how we became guardians, a ghost found us, where and how is unique to each guardian...".

"I was born in the stars..." the warlock spoke thoughtfully "I remember waking up with a start and I was surrounded by a bunch of guardians who were on their way to Venus. It was a research team that had a lost ghost with them. she found me in a space wreck" she held out her hand and her ghost phased into existence, hovering above it. the ghost looked flatter than the average ghost and had metal lining on its edges, the metal of the body however was replaced by a constellation pattern that seemed to change as you looked at it. "my ghost's name is hope... cheesy, know, but she found me in the stars... the most random place, and if she found me in the endless space, then surely there's always hope" she muses, the ghost looked fondly at the warlock before turning and nodding to Mel in agreement.

The titan spoke next "well I was born in mars, in one of the old buildings almost covered in sand, a few years and I would have been gone" she chuckled, she looked to her left as the ghost appeared next to her shoulder, this ghost had the appearance of a neon advertisement board but smaller, the colours changed constantly and it too nodded before speaking.

"I decided to travel, it was a long time of searching before I decided, instead of just looking, I would assist the vanguard in my own way, I found my guardian by accident" the ghost spoke "my name is specks, it's a pleasure".

The hunter had quietly watched the other two before her ghost appeared in front of her, Mel was immediately put off as it looked like a normal ghost only it looked as though it was made of chocolate. It was however very obviously alive, and the hunter seemed amused at Mel's reaction "my ghost's name is dust, she found me in the cosmodrome wall in old Russia".

Mel looked at the guardians and their ghosts with admiration "you guys are so cool" Mel looked out over the crowd below before looking back to the guardians deciding these guys were definitely more entertaining to be around "so what do you guys normally do?".

Elsie held up hand and tapped her fingers as she listed their main duties which included bounties, scrapping and defence of areas as well as class specific duties, for example, titans defended the walls or are the first to defend civilians if need be.

Mel smiled and listened with great interest until she sighed thoughtfully "everyone is wrong about you guys…".

The three guardians look surprised and confused at her words. "wrong?" Skye asked curiously.

Mel paused and froze realising what she had said and cringed, her words spilled out before she could think about it. She bit her lip before replying 'all the adults think you guys are useless..." she paused looking disappointed "but I don't think so, I don't see their lazy asses helping guard the city most of time...'.

The guardians look slightly solemn before the titan shrugged it off 'I suppose they weren't wrong to think that a while ago, we were unprepared for such a huge scaled attack on the city'.

The warlock looked at her hands as her mind wandered 'we lost many guardians that day... but I think people forget that we lost people too...' the two beside her agreed.

The girl looked questioning 'I thought all guardians could come back... didn't they come back when the light did?'.

the titan shook her head 'it's not the light that brings us back, it's our ghosts using the light... the cabal killed our ghosts meaning the dead couldn't come back...'.

Mel looked shocked and then sad as she processed that information 'did you know anyone who lost their ghost?'.

the three nodded their head in response "we were the lucky ones'.

she looked confused eyeing their ghost's 'then couldn't you bring the others back as well? You still have ghosts...'.

The titan continued 'it's hard to explain but each ghost finds their one guardian and they make a pair, they can't be anyone else's ghost from that point on, they can only resurrect that one person'.

'Oh' the girl replied before looking at the floor "I didn't know it worked that way...'

The titan shrugged 'it isn't common knowledge in the city, but all guardians know... some of the most notorious guardians in our history were murderers and ghost killers...'

'usually it's when a guardians light is tainted when things like that happen", The warlock smiled trying to lighten the mood "it doesn't happen often though'

Suddenly the peace of the room was disrupted by a loud screech 'Melanie?! Where did you go?!'. Mel cringed and hid her face with a scowl before standing and waving embarrassed down to the first floor, her mother was pacing around the room anxiously looking for her, when she finally looked up, her mother looked furious 'GET DOWN HERE, you are In so much trouble'

Mel bit her lip before returning her furious glare with her own 'no'.

Her mother looked stunned for a second before suddenly you could almost see smoke flare from her nostrils 'get down here right this second'.

The girl turned away from her in denial 'nope, you're going to have to make me'.

The guardians sat behind her awkwardly not saying anything while the rest of the room was dead silent.

Her mother was so furious her words stopped working for a moment 'I swear to god if you don't come down...'.

The girl turned and stomped angrily 'what do your goanna do, kill me? Disown me, it will be no worse then what you already do, I'm not a kid anymore but ever since the attack I haven't able to leave your side, the attack is over, don't you get it, we are safe, the guardians are protecting us again' she glared at her mother 'I need some space...'.

The mother looked a bit stunned, but it didn't last long 'the guardians... the guardians who let the city fall in the first place? Hmm... sure they are, we are all just waiting until they fail again' she growled 'I'm trying to protect you'.

The girl screamed in frustration 'you're all the same, just let it go, could you guys have fought off the cabal? No, didn't think so, I'm going to stay with the guardians this afternoon... if nothing more than just to prove a point' she glared 'if I come home with one scratch, then I'll admit you were right but if I don't, you have to take your head out of your ass and relax more... I'll be home tonight' she turned and plopped onto the ground angrily facing the guardians with crossed her arms, proceeding to ignore her mother who continued to try to talk her Down.

The guardians looked awkward at having been brought into the argument 'are you sure you want to do this... she is your mother...' the titan spoke quietly 'we don't want to cause a fight'.

Mel shrugged 'Its beyond stupid, she didn't even notice I was gone until a minute ago and now she is mad at you guys, I want to prove a point' she scowled before sighing 'but it's ok if you want to go, I didn't mean to pull you guys into it... you don't need to stay, I'm safe even without you guys' she looked apologetic.

In the background, her mother and friends stomped out of the cafe angrily having lost the patience to keep trying to talk her down. The guardians looked thoughtful 'well we did have some errands to run in the city, but they aren't majorly important', the titan looked to the other guardians and they shrugged.

'it's better than working for a day...' the warlock continued.

Mel looked hopeful 'how about I come with you?' She looked embarrassed 'I mean, if it's not inconvenient... that's ok too'.

The hunter looked her up and down thoughtfully 'well I suppose you could, but we need to go quite the distance, are you sure?'.

The girl nodded 'it sounds fun, or more fun than being stuck in my house with my overprotective mum...'.

The warlock sighed 'well she is only like that because she loves you, you realise this right?'.

The girl nodded 'I know" she sighed "it's just so frustrating, I want her to see that I can do things by myself and she needs to chill, she needs to let go of the red war… it wasn't even that bad for our family…'.

the warlock stared at her thoughtfully before nodding 'then on one condition, you should apologise to your mother tonight after you have both cooled down, if you do that, you can stay with us until dusk' she smiled.

The girl sighed and hesitated before nodding 'ok'.

The hunter held out a hand 'shake on it and we have a deal'. The girl took her gloved hand and shook it with a nod, she didn't know if she would apologise though, she just didn't voice this, the guardians probably wouldn't check.

With that, the titan stood and offered her hand, helping Mel stand up 'off we go then'.