Ace's Journal final entry (?)
Dad,
I don't why I was chosen by this...thing. I thought I knew who I was, an ordinary hunter who has no idea who his parents were. Yet the closest thing was there underneath my nose, I miss you dad and I'm very scared right now. But I know what you would as always: We're hunters, fear is our thrill and the gun helps with it. And in this situation, the keyblade helps. So no matter what...always have a smile on your face. I will Dad. I will.
Your son Ace.
Eleusinia, present day.
A lone hunter walks in the ruins of the corrupted halls of the throne world that belongs to Mara Sov armed with an Origin Story auto rifle in her arms and a Izanagi's Burden sniper rifle on her back as she checks the corners of the halls and passes by the statue of Sjur Eido with the missing bow on it because she passed that trial just recently. But it was not the time to travel down memory lane, this was personal and all of their sacrifices and buildup led to this. Her armor is the Frumious armor set with a custom black and purple shader as she continues aiming her weapon while another hunter is up on a pillar armed with a Hawkmoon hand-cannon in his hand then jumps while using his knife to slide down and join her. He holsters the strange sword behind his back while landing in front of her, the sword resembles a sword with teeth on its side and is colored tan and blue and resembles a key.
His armor mainly consists of a Kairos Function mask on his head and Wing Contender chest armor alongside a Vanguard Dare boots on his legs with the gauntlets being Prodigal Grips with the Bumblebee shader on all of them. On his back is the Vanguard Dare cloak with the symbol covered by the keyblade. They hear the sound of armor crunching on the ground causing both to turn around to see a woman wearing violet armor resembling that of a female knight with the helmet having a dome visor and backwards fins on the sides. She too is armed with the same weapon the male hunter is wielding as well like the male hunter but hers looks elegant and is colored like her armor. The male hunter nods at her while looking around...
They hear footsteps causing the three of them to turn around with the female hunter aiming her rifle at whatever is making the sound and see a woman with faded blue hair and dark skin with yellow eyes walking towards them armed with the same strange sword but different. Her outfit is a black high collared high top, a black corset with two black straps intersecting her chest. Her gloves are colored black with the finger tips being red and her sleeves as well alongside black stockings reaching halfway on her thighs leaving little skin with torn cloths on her hips. The male hunter nods to the female hunter causing her to start firing the weapon right away while he dashes towards her with the female wielder next to him doing the same but holds it it like a normal sword while the female one has it aimed backwards on her hand by reversing the grip. The dark woman blocks the shots with her weapon while the male hunter throws a skip grenade at her causing it to burst with the rounds swarming her but she quickly backs away while emitting some kind of wave that freezes the explosives in their place with frost causing them to shatter into pieces as he swings left and right at the woman who is dodging his attacks as the armored makes it in time to bounce off a pillar and raises her sword towards her but the blue haired menace raises her sword to block the strike causing her to throw her over.
The male hunter comes at her again but she pulls out a familiar looking hand-cannon colored white and black with a spade on the barrel and fires at him which hits the incoming attack but only takes a little bit of his shield down causing him to yell in fury instead but she blocks it next with a taunting smile on her face and shoots his helmet next which breaks a part of the visor off. His other half is covered by a shadow as he prepares to strike again as the female hunter continues giving sniper support with her gun from a distance as she begins running. The violet armored woman gets up and reaches her hand out as a swarm of what appears to be the same weapons the male hunter and her are using rises up with the huntress getting on one of them and starts firing again as the woman turns and begins running in annoyance with all the shots blocking every single one of them as the armored woman gets up with her weapon in hand as it begins to charge up in a mysterious violet light as the male hunter catches up as his key-like weapon charges the same with a fiery glow to it from behind but she ducks immediately and attempts to slice him in half but he dodges the incoming strike and attempts to hit her in the back. The woman rolls forward then turns around at them in fury as the female armored woman readies her blade alongside the male hunter while the female hunter floats behind them switching to her sniper rifle and takes aim.
She simply smirks and jumps in the air while summoning a strange flying craft causing the female hunter to fire at her but she activates her armor which blocks the bullets. The woman speeds towards the female hunter but the male rises up and attempts to knock her back but she rams through him and grabs her by the throat as the violet armored woman fires a lightning bolt from her weapon at her. The female hunter struggles as the woman holds by her throat then reaches the top of the throne with the two looking up from below, she smiles as if she's taunting them and crushes her head then freezing her body much to their shock then drops her. The male hunter runs towards his falling companion with pieces of her armor falling off then hits the ground while sliding but he catches her. Her helmet has been torn up revealing her face, she has black hair with purple highlights and blue eyes. The male hunter hangs his exposed eye in sorrow then looks up at the woman above while the ground near him shakes to see the violet armored woman rising with lightning strikes hitting her but she still persists. It stops with her armor wrecked and leaves her mouth exposed as she runs towards the blue haired woman and slashes at her with full force but to no avail as she charges her weapon again then slams it against hers giving off a purple colored shock wave which pushes the two back. The woman remains standing unscathed while the violet one's helmet falls apart revealing her face...
Mara Sov, Queen Of The Awoken, the woman in front of Mara smirks again but what she doesn't know is that there is a ship rising behind her. It's the male hunter who is hanging on and stopping behind the woman who turns around as he takes aim with his finger hesitating on the trigger. The sky opens above them revealing a glowing heart shaped object as the woman stands still in between them.
A gunshot is heard.
One Week Prior...
The male hunter wakes up on the ground that is strangely colored causing him to get up and look around his surroundings revealing it to be some kind of stained glass window-like platform surrounded by the people he cares about and wielding a strange sword. He notices that his helmet is gone revealing his face and hair to be golden blonde and semi short with some dirt on his face causing him to look around for a moment while upholstering his hand cannon and squints. The hunter hears a voice from somewhere but he can't point it out.
"So much to do...so little time...Take your time. Don't be afraid. The door is still shut." The voice spoke causing his twitch reflexes to kick in and quickly moves around while aiming his gun in one hand. He grits his teeth and hears the ground churning then turns around and sees stone platforms rising with weapons appearing on them as the first is a shield, second is a sword, and third is a wand causing him to tilt his head slightly and lowering his gun.
"Power sleeps within you...if you give it form...It will give you strength." It spoke causing the young hunter to walk towards one of them which is the sword and smirks seeing that it's his first choice then grabs it while checking it out. If his ghost was here then he can see if this is an exotic or legendary but the design overall screams exotic regardless, he's never seen this sword at all either. The emblem on the hilt resembles a mouse causing him to raise an eyebrow at it then rests the blade on his hand.
"The power of a warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction." The voice observed the sword on his hand as the hunter holsters it on his back. It soon vanishes from his back much to his irritation and surprise then turns around at the other platforms carrying the wand and shield which he has no interest in whatsoever. These things would probably be priceless in the market though but alas, they'd probably be cheap so its best to sell them to a Cryptarch.
"Now what will you give up in exchange?" The blonde hunter places his thumbs on his finger for a moment then walks over to the wand and picks it up. He notices that it looks more like a toy rather than a normal looking weapon which is logical to give it up in exchange for the shield. The hunter hears the voice again making him wonder if this dream is from an Ahamkara of some kind or bad spicy ramen he had recently. He'd like to compare it to an acid trip gone horribly wrong but he isn't seeing bad stuff yet.
"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power?" He nods at the voice causing the wand to disappear into light catching him off guard in the process as the pieces float up into the air making him sad that he couldn't sell it for glimmer. But whatever floats this things boat yet it would've been priceless, he might end up as a laughing stock though if he picked it up.
"You have chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?" The hunter nods in agreement again seeing that he's more of a rogue type and doesn't really comprehend magic like his friend at all. It's not like he's stupid, he just sees red flags on why you shouldn't wield stuff like that when there are warlocks out there. Plus he's a hunter and the magic should be with warlocks and warlocks only...but then there is Eris Morn though yet he doesn't see himself as a magic wielder. The platform begins to collapse alongside the stained glass-like window floors beneath him shatters into pieces causing him to scream but his voice is silenced.
The next platform appears revealing a stained glass floor but he can make it out a shape to be a female hunter in frumious hunter armor with black hair that has purple highlights with her eyes closed as if she was resting and armed with a weapon like he had on the stained glass platform only that her glass colored is light purple instead. He uses his boost jump to break the fall and lands safely on the ground as the sword appears on his right hand hand as if it spawned from light. The male hunter knows this huntress, her name is Layla.
"You've gained the power to fight." The hunter looks at the sword and unholsters his gun revealing it to be a black and white revolver-like gun with a large barrel that has an spade on on it then uses his left to pick it up. He walks forward while aiming down the gun for a moment to check the perimeter then notices something on the ground rising up, a black shadowy figure of some kind with another by its side. The two rise to reveal two almost deformed monsters that remind him of the Taken except their heads are round with a twisted antennae on them with glowing yellow eyes and sharp claws alongside large feet.
"There will be times where you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong." He aims his gun at the one in front of him and fires which hits the creature in the head thus killing it while the other lunges towards him but the hunter quickly slices it in half. More begin to spawn causing him to twirl the gun then fires it at another which wounds it in the process right before throwing a knife at it causing the creature to explode. Another jumps towards him but he runs towards it and slides then raises the sword thus slicing it in half throws an incendiary grenade that explodes in the process and sends a creature flying towards him as he moves out of the way and it hits another creature instead. The hunter stabs both of them like a shishkebab ruthlessly like they were nothing but what he doesn't notice is that the floor is turning black but he looks down and sees whats happening.
The hunter attempts to move but his foot is stuck on the ground which causes him sink into it much to his panic as the black mass consumes his body completely and his world becomes darkness. He continues to panic but his vision becomes clear and sees that the floor is another stained glass portrait of what appears to be Mara Sov but unlike the others who are resting, Mara is front and center aiming her strange weapon down surrounded by portraits of Uldren Sov, Petra Venj, Sjur Eido, and an unknown man with black hair and a ponytail alongside a goatee. There is a door in front of him and he opens it revealing a lab of some kind...he looks around for a moment but the door shuts behind him causing him to turn around then look back. He hears the ground rumbling for a moment causing him to head upstairs...and sees a giant mass approaching him as he finds himself in Venus. The hunter is soon overwhelmed by fear but something passes by him, it's a blue haired woman about his age then turns around and utters a phrase.
"Everyone is waiting their birth by sleep..." Soon the hunter is engulfed by the black mass.
The hunter opens his eyes slowly and sees the blue sky while hearing the sounds of the PA calling specific people or ships flying off into the distance. He gets up showing the solid ground of the tower for a moment and yawns in exhaustion then lays on his back seeing the female hunter from his dream causing him to scream briefly and rise up. He really hates it when Layla does that but at least it helps a surge of energy in his body to keep pumping due to the sudden shock.
"Whoa!" He screamed as the female one smirks seeing him like this. She knows that he's always had a habit of sleeping in the afternoon at three after a morning of doing normal guardian stuff like going to the Crucible then dozes off while watching the sky probably on top of the Eververse shop. Being a guardian can be tedious and tiring after all, especially with whats going on in the Dreaming City and how the two had to endure running around doing the Ascendant challenges in that creepy world. Don't even mention the forges Ada goes on about as well.
"Ace you lazy bum." The huntress smiled causing Ace to get up slowly, despite guardians never needing sleep, Ace always found sleeping relaxing rather than staying up all day sitting a ship waiting for something to happen or constantly fighting. He needs some relax and relaxation after all in these times of doubt after Cayde's death since the hunters are without a leader now and who knows who Cayde chose for the Vanguard dare with rumors circulating around that it's Marcus Ren or Shin Malphur to which Layla hopes it'll be Shin, she has nothing against Ren but Shin is more worthy but there's more rumors that he's gone off the grid hunting down rogue guardians.
"You should really stop doing that! Seriously, it ruins the point of me looking up in the sky and counting the ships before I doze off again." Ace sarcastically replied while getting up. On Layla's waist appears to be a special bounty from the Black Armory which Ace sighs knowing what Layla wants, get to a nearby forge and forge a weapon she wants. He often wonders how full is her vault right now but he's not complaining at all since he wants those weapons after all, he's a huge fan of the foundary as well. Layla pats him on the shoulder with a smirk on her face then turns to walk away.
Sunflower By Post Malone.
"Dude we're guardians, we don't need sleep. Sleep is for the weak." Layla replied while impersonating Patrick Star with Ace catching up to her and scratching the back of his head feeling an itch on it. That dream though...it felt real and almost like he's seen something from a strange horror movie or a fantasy game he'd play on his ship, Ace shakes his head from the thought of seeing that and wonders if he can take his mind off by joining Layla do her thing by going to the forges to forge a new weapon.
"Whatever you say so. So any plans when we're done with our daily stuff?" Ace asked.
"The usual: Sit atop the tower and eat some ice cream. Not the salt one, those give me the shits." The huntress replied causing Ace to laugh remembering that time where Layla literally had to shadow dodge her way to the bathroom nearby. It was hilarious seeing her listen to a debriefing then running off while leaving a trail of arc energy from her footprints. Layla rolls her eyes and summons her ghost, Dokkaebi, then heads to orbit as Ace does the same.
Volundr Forge, EDZ.
Ace is tossed against a wall by a Cabal Legionary due to an explosion hitting him and sending the hunter flying in the process thus making him end up here. He gets up and shoots his hand cannon known as the Ace Of Spades at his head thus causing it to explode in the process. The hunter twirls the gun and holsters it as the forge ignites with energy while bursting with legendary engrams for himself and for Layla as he places his hand on her shoulder while a fellow titan looks on.
Pacifica, Titan.
"And that is why we should change our clan name from Tango Wolves to the M14 gang! I mean, we're hunters and hunters love scout rifles plus the M14 is a scout rifle!" Layla explained her plan while taking cover behind a wall armed with a Ringing Nail auto-rifle as Ace is laughing uncontrollably near their clan leader. Suddenly, a skip grenade is thrown at them causing Ace's eyes to widen.
"Oh shit! Move!" Ace yelled while pushing Layla as the tracker rounds surround Ace thus killing him until his ghost, Weiss, revives him again causing him to get up with a smirk on his face then pulls out his gun again and starts shooting at the guardian that did it. The match ends showing that they've lost but Ace and Layla get powerful gears in the form of a Subtle Calamity bow for her and a Ten Paces hand cannon for Ace to which he infuses with his current gun.
Hellas Basin, Mars.
Ace dances to the music that's playing in his helmet while tossing a grenade without looking at a bunch of thrall coming at him as Layla lunges towards the large Hive knight and kills it with her sword causing it to shatter and die. The remaining thralls look in terror before cowering and teleporting away as a chest spawns with a still dancing Ace heading towards it and picks up an IKELOS_SG_v1.0.1 shotgun with Layla getting the same and kisses the gun. Ace looks at the shotgun for a moment with a small smile with some enthusiasm and sighs.
Emerald Coast, EDZ.
The male hunter runs towards the taken knight who is the primeval with his sword ready and stabs it on the side of the leg causing the knight to scream as Layla shoots it in the head thus killing it. Layla lowers her rifle, The Long Goodbye, with a smirk on her face as Ace uses his sit emote and sits on the ground.
Layla walks on the edge of the hanger overlooking the Last City with Ace carrying a box of blueberry ice cream then setting it down and sits next to her. She's always loved it when they do this most of the time, it makes them feel human even though they're just resurrected corpses risen from the dead by the Traveler. It made her remember the simpler times if they still had any memories at all. Ace looks at his ice cream for a moment as Layla eats hers with his eyes showing emptiness and doubt in them.
"Next time, we should stick to the cave cause that was way too close." Layla spoke and turns to Ace who turns to her back. His eyes scream out some kind of conflict which Layla can tell, she always can tell if someone was lying cause in her previous life is that she always was lied to. Ace never knew much about his previous life, he woke up in a lab on the ground wearing his hunter attire by default given by his ghost.
"We almost lost the forge as well, I would've torn my hair out if we did that stuff again. Especially when the damn legionaries sneak up on you. For a warmongering race of killer space rhinos, they're stealthy as hell." Ace sighed in irritation as Layla takes a bite off of her ice cream which Ace finds annoying that Layla doesn't lick it but eats it. But Ace does the same as well too.
"Well they are the Red Legion and they're not your normal space rhinos too. They should be leaving right now from the solar system to that giant fish on Nessus but they still remain on earth, especially when one of their ships is grounded after what that guardian did. I've heard the Consensus is granting them a pardon so they can leave but there's rumors saying we could be amassing one last final assault against them. I hope for the second, damn murderers, I'm still reeling that we missed out an ENTIRE war and almost got grilled by Zavala for it back at the Iron Temple." Layla sighed feeling guilt that they didn't participate.
"At least we dodged a bullet back there thanks to coincidence when we decided to celebrate at the Iron Temple for the anniversary of the Battle of Six Fronts. Hikari basically saved our lives the moment she invited us to shoot off fireworks with Shiro. But still, it was pretty bad that we didn't participate in making history by retaking the city plus we couldn't get out because our ghosts could no longer trans-mat a ship for us too." Ace adds with Layla nodding.
"But at least we helped in finishing the Red War...all that's left is that Dreaming City mess after what that prince did. Did you hear rumors that he killed Cayde though? That son of a bitch..." She hissed remembering what Uldren Sov did to Cayde-6, too bad no one knows his face and the only person who saw him face to face killed him in the process. Layla notices that Ace was caught off guard then hanging his eyes in sorrow by the mention of Cayde causing her to realize what she said and the mere mention.
"Oh shit! Sorry, I didn't want to mention..."
"It's okay. I'm glad that pretty boy kicked the bucket, could care less about his sister too. He was like a dad to me you know? Cayde. Like when I first woke up and I introduced myself to him, he said if I had spare time then he'll teach me the ways of the hunter and I learned from him. I just wish...that didn't happen...that asshole." Ace sighed angrily and sadly. Layla blinks her eyes then turns them to avoid eye contact with Ace remembering how much Cayde and him got along so well, almost as if he was his son too. The blonde raises eyes in determination to her.
"Hey Layla...you think...there's more to being a guardian?" The hunter asks him causing her to tilt her head.
"Yeah of course. We slay gods and wield highly advanced weaponry, what's there to be?" Layla questioned him. Ace chuckles.
"Like is there more than just fighting and slaying gods? Is there a higher purpose than just doing that all day?" She's caught off guard by this question, Layla falls silent for a moment. This has been her life this whole time after she left her old life behind and there's nothing more she's grateful of nonetheless and here's her partner questioning everything they do. Where she's from and what she's been through, there's more out there and it's not pretty at all.
"Well guardian life is random, one day it can be doing the stuff we do then the next by chance-something else will happen. That's how we roll most of the time, maybe by chance you'll have something that no guardian can deal with. Maybe today or tomorrow...but we have to be patient." Layla spoke. Ace gives a small chuckle while looking at the sky above.
"Yeah..." Ace replied and looks blankly at the sky for a moment. He soon feels like he's being watched for some reason causing him to turn his head and sees someone watching them from a distance. It seems to resemble a warlock but the outfit is strange and doesn't match up with any warlock whatsoever at all, he sees what appears to be a man wearing a dark trench coat with a hood on his back with the face of the wearer covered by a black dome-like helmet of some kind standing by the entrance in front of Amanda. Ace nudges Layla causing her to turn at the figure.
"Is he looking at us?" Layla whispered to him. Silence falls between them for a moment as some kind of dark aura fills the air making Ace think that this is no normal guardian but Layla is skeptical though. She leans towards Ace wearily with a hint of fear thinking whoever this is, he or she is bad news as Ace can't help but feel a little scared right now as if that thing in the distance is a hunter and he's the prey.
"Maybe he's just a warlock. They tend to be creepy sometimes." Lord Shaxx walks past them as the mysterious figure disappears from their view causing their eyes to widen.
"That's not a warlock."
"I don't think he's a guardian either. Lets go!" Ace ordered as Layla nods then gets up alongside him then begins running. He opens the holster of his gun while Layla readies her scout rifle known as the Polaris Lance on her hand urgently with Ace leading her to the entrance and quickly moving up the staircase to where a couple of engineers are repairing sparrows then sees him walking to the side heading to the tower lobby. Ace runs there next to see that he's gone but it's likely that he went up causing him to move there next. He arrives in the lobby as many guardians pass by him but he doesn't see the figure neither does Layla...until he spots him across near Banshee-44's shop. It moves away possibly heading downstairs with Layla and him rushing towards it but not before Layla stops and sees Zavala in the distance.
"Commander! We got an intruder! He's running off to the marketplace!" Layla yelled at Zavala who notices her causing the Awoken titan to nod. He knew the new Golden Age would bring about threats so perhaps domestic ones as well, especially with that raid back at the Black Armory. She soon follows Ace next who is ahead of her right now. Ace jumps off of the balcony leading downstairs gun in hand and runs in the tunnel leading to the market as he looks around then sees the stranger behind the side of the ramen shop but he moves again much to his frustration then continues following him. He can tell that this leads to the Annex where the Black Armory is which means whoever it is will be cut off.
Ace heads downstairs while aiming Ace Of Spades which is the real gun given to him by the guardian as the other is a replica from his collection and slowly walks while checking the perimeter. Whoever this figure is, there is no way he's a guardian at all due to the amount of shadiness he/she is giving off around him/her. The hallways have some light in them which he can see but he's always found the place to be creepy as hell, even more creepy than the Hellmouth too. He feels like someone is around the corridor causing him to turn and see no one causing the hunter to lower his gun then holsters it.
"I always find you guardians and people of the city funny." A voice spoke behind him revealing it to be the figure with Ace quickly attempting to draw but it fires some kind of black fire on his hand which burns it. Ace winces in pain before his shield goes back up causing him to pull it out again with the figure laughing at him for a moment. This was strong evidence that he's no guardian at all alongside the fact his ghost is recording all of this right now.
"Thinking a giant ball in the sky will protect you. But you...I find interesting, a wielder who forgot who he is." He spoke to him as Ace gets up while covering his injured hand.
"Pal, you better start being a little clear cause the only thing I wielded is a gun or a sword. One of which would be against your head if you burn my hand." Ace growled in front of them. He's heard of guardians possessing the powers of the dark but never in this magnitude though there are examples like Toland, Eris, and Dredgen Yor yet this guy is nothing like them at all. No designation nor class, this has to be another party beyond the ones guardians have fought. He summons and aims a key-shaped weapon at his head...
"I could kill you here but the boss says you have a purpose." The helmeted strange spoke then turns around with some kind of dark portal opening which he enters. Layla and Zavala head down as they see the strange hole before it closes leaving Ace compelled at what he's seen. Zavala looks at the portal in horror before getting a glimpse of it wishing that Eris is around to explain it.
"You alright?" Layla asks him causing Ace to nod. Weiss appears before Ace and floats near his shoulder.
"So did you get any of that on camera? Cause I don't Zavala thinking I'm crazy." Ace spoke.
"Of course idiot. I wouldn't let you explain things." Weiss scoffed as Zavala stands in front of Ace as he walks off with Layla.
"In time you will be free...O wielder of mine." A voice spoke to a woman with white hair overlooking a black sea and white light.
"...Because all of the pieces are falling into place...This world "
In the Dreaming City, a door opens...with yellow eyes behind it.
"Hey Layla about that symbol on your cape. What's that all about?" Ace asks while his hand heals slowly by his light but Weiss takes snapshots of the wounds he has with his hand having black singes on it. Layla looks at her cafe while taking it off on that symbol is an upside down heart with it being extended with a sharp point on the top and a line with two points in the middle.
"It's nothing...it makes it look cool. That's all."
