Saviour

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Kale was tired.

He sat in the Tower Bar, the only watering hole on the Tower. It was actually a converted jumpship, the cargo hold ramp serving as the entrance, and the insides had be refurbished with a bar at the far end of the room, and a handful of tables and couches sitting around, as well as stools for sitting at the bar.

His chosen poison was scotch, as was the usual. His seat in the corner gave him a clear view of the entire bar, dozens of patrons filling the currently loud place to the brim. Men and women, ranging from the lowliest engineer to Vanguard Commander Zavala himself were all over the room, filling it with the sounds of laughter, mirth and a general sense of joy. Kale had just returned from a long operation on the Moon, patrolling the rim of the Hellmouth, to discover that a team of Guardians had taken out the Archon in charge of the Fallen on Venus. Good for them, Kale supposed.

One of the celebrating Guardians, a member of the victorious fireteam, strolled up to him. Her long blue robes denoted her as a Warlock, and her dark purple skin marked her as an Awoken. The woman held two drinks, both some sort of wine in fancy looking glasses. Kale placed down his own drink with a light 'clink', and looked up at the approaching Guardian.

"Can I help you?" He asked, his voice slightly raspy from having not spoken in so long.

"Why aren't you celebrating?" She asked, handing him one of the drinks. "You're just sitting here by yourself."

"It's you peoples party. I just happened to be here when you all started celebrating." Kale answered.

"What for? Hoping to drown your sorrows in drink?" The woman asked, grinning.

"No sorrows, just shitty memories." He said.

"Oh…" The woman said, frowning, before looking around. "Don't you have a team you work with? You seem to be alone."

"No, it's just little old me." Kale replied.

"Really? That must get lonely. I've been with my team since my rebirth, basically. Me, Tyler, James, and our group leader, Devon. I'm sort of their little sister, to be honest." She said, pointing out each member. "Tyler, James and Devon are all Titans, and I'm a Warlock. I'm guessing you're a Hunter?"

"You guess correctly. Kale Fletcher, Moon patroller extraordinaire." He answered, grinning.

"You patrol the moon by yourself?" She asked, eyes wide. "But… there's so many Hive and Fallen, and the Hellmouth is right there…"

"That hasn't seemed to stop me yet." Kale said. "I never got your name, by the way."

"Oh, it's… it's Amanda." She answered, her cheeks turning a darker shade of purple. It took Kale a moment to realize she was blushing. He smiled inwardly. This girl was fairly pretty, and her smile was infectious…

"Well Amanda, you seem to have lifted my spirits a little, so let's go engage some revelry!" Kale said, rising from his chair.

"Okay!" She answered, the blush gone and a smile taking its place. Kale loved that smile already.

xxXXxx

Kale awoke to the sound of birds chirping in the gardens outside his apartment on the Tower, feeling a warm glow and a smile on his face. He rolled over in his king-size bed, putting his feet over the edge, realizing he had fallen asleep naked. Huh, that was odd. He yawned and stretched, standing and pulling on a pair of boxers, before his undersuit materialized on his body.

"Good morning." He heard, his heart nearly stopping.

He turned around slowly, and what he saw made his heart speed up again. It was Amanda, the Awoken from last night, laying on his bed.

"You… I… We… What?" He sputtered, his mind working on overclock. His memory was slightly foggy, but he remembered leaving the bar, coming back with her and… oh shit, what was it she had said last night?

'I'm kind of their little sister, to be honest.'

Motherfu…

His door crashed open, a fully armoured Titan without his helmet standing there. His eyes homed in on Amanda, then flicked to Kale. He was human, darker-skinned, almost African looking, but his skin was a bit too light.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He bellowed, lunging at Kale fist-first.

Kale flipped his arm upwards, hammering the side of his forearm into the mans wrist, pushing the blow away from him, as his other arm came up in a crushing blow to the Titans guts. His armour had finished forming from its light, and his gauntlet finished in time to strengthen the blow. The Titan let out a 'whoof' of air and a growl of pain as the punch dug into his gut.

The Titan Kale now recognized as Devon returned the favour, bringing his knee up towards Kale's stomach. Kale spun away from the blow and hammered his left foot into Devons back in a wicked spinning roundhouse. The burly Titan cursed and swung his fist back, forcing Kale to duck or be left concussed. His cloak swirled around him as he leapt into the air, his foot coming up before slamming into the back of Devon's skull.

Devon went down like a Dreg after being hit with a Blade of Crota, collapsing to the ground in a heap of armour and limbs. Kale looked over to see Amanda covering herself with the bedsheet as James and Tyler, the other two Titans, charged in, weapons raised. Kale drew his scout rifle, Crusade I, in return, pointing it at the pair. The two Titans stopped in their tracks, practically screeching to a halt on the metal floor as they found themselves looking down the barrel of a gun.

"May I ask what you three are doing busting down my door at eight o-clock in the morning?" Kale asked, his tone even and neutral.

"We were just worried about Amanda, that's all! We saw her leave with you last night and Devon panicked when she wasn't back this morning." Tyler answered, James nodding frantically.

"Well, Devon just tried to beat my skull in, so excuse me if I'm not a hundred percent sure what the hell you were trying to do." Kale replied, gesturing at the fallen Titan with his free hand.

"Devon always had anger issues, especially when he thinks people he likes are in danger." Tyler said, lowering his rifle. "Looks like this was all a big misunderstanding."

"You can say that twice…" Kale muttered, before looking Tyler in the eye. "Now, if you would be so kind as to take your friend here and leave, that would be wonderful."

"Whatever you say man, so long as you stop pointing that thing at me." Tyler answered, nodding at the scout rifle still leveled at his chest.

"Quite happily." Kale said, pointing his weapon at the ground. "Amanda, if you could please leave with them, that would probably resolve the situation."

Kale watched Amanda, Tyler and James leave, the two Titans carrying an unconscious Devon with them. He sighed, before sitting down on the bed.

'I should really apologize to Devon when he gets up.' Kale thought, before leaving his apartment and heading upstairs.

He needed to clear his thoughts, and the Moon was the perfect place to do so.

xxXXxx

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Three more shots, three more dead Acolytes, but Kale still couldn't stop thinking about her. The diminutive Awoken he had apparently bed last night. The way she smiled, the way she laughed, the way she looked while laying on his bed without clothing, the way she sighed in pleasure, the way she had snuggled up against him as they had fallen asleep, he couldn't get her out of his mind.

Another shot. Another kill. An image of Amanda grinning at him in the bar. His bullet splits the skull of a Fallen Dreg, but all he sees is her face. Another round turns a Vandals brain to mush, but his thoughts are focused on the sound of her laughter. Is he crazy? Has he finally gone off the deep end? He hears a Sparrow approaching, and it rams into the Hive horde, before it circles around to his position. The pilot jumps off.

He recognizes the figure. It's Devon, the Titan from that morning. Kale raises a hand in welcome, only to have a fist slammed into his face. He is stunned. What's going on? The second blow is a knee to the stomach, driving the air from his lungs and forcing him to his knees, where a third strike to the jaw throws him to the ground.

"You having fun now, punk?!" The Titan yells, grabbing Kale's limp form by the neck before holding him up. "You still enjoying yourself, like you did with my little sister last night?"

Kale is silent. He should have known something like this would happen. He has no words, and knows he is in for a world of pain. Devon is enraged, and throws him to the ground, screaming curses all the while. A heavy boot stomps into Kales chest, and he feels ribs crack and snap. Another stomp, and his upper right arm is broken, the bone snapped in two. A third stomp breaks his leg, and then Devon is walking away, laughing.

"Have fun being Hive food, asshole!" He calls, before mounting up on his Sparrow and riding away.

Kale lays there, body racked with pain, but he maintains his silence. He is close to tears, but not from fear or pain. He always knew he would get killed someday, always knew his obsession with the Hive would get him killed, but he never expected a fellow Guardian to be the tool of his destruction.

He hears growling now, growling of hunger and incessant madness. The Hive are coming, and he can't fire a gun, or even run away. He crawls away from the horde, knowing he will die and letting his final thoughts be of Amanda. Her beautiful purple skin, her dazzling smile, her spellbinding laughter. Kale wants his last thoughts to be of her.

Then he hears a gunshot, and an Acolyte is spinning away, a hole in its head. A loud rattling, the sound of a machine gun, sounds out, and the front rank of the Hive are falling, melting away like water in the sun. He sees a large figure in his blurred eyesight, a shotgun in its hands, and the blast sends three Thralls spinning away in a hail of blood and gore.

Then a pair of hands, slender and gentle, are grabbing him, dragging him away from the slaughter, pulling him away from his death. He has no idea who this person is, but he trusts them. The pair of large figures continue to fire, the firsts shotgun blasting holes in Knights as the others machine gun blasts apart smaller Hive forms.

The one who had grabbed him leans over, and their face is all he sees. It's some Warlock pattern gear, but all he can think is 'thank you'. He wishes he could say it, but everything's going black, and he feels the tugging at his chest that signifies trans-mat transferring. Then he blacks out, his last sight being that of his rescuers face. The skin is purple, dark purple, and Erik feels his chest lighten, but before he can see everything he is dead to the world.

He dreams of her.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

What was that? No fucking idea, to be honest. Some sort of romance/revenge story? Almost lemon? Me being delirious as shit for a few hours, and waking up to see this? Probably choice number three, but whatever, I'm gonna post this.