Fall
A Destiny one-shot.
The surprise attack on the Last City left the hundreds of Guardians that presided in their towers scrambling to evacuate all the citizens and repel the Cabal invasion.
Frames were hastily activated and given directives to hold the line. Freighter pilots received orders to dump their cargos in favor of making runs to get Guardians to the city streets and pick up citizens. Some Guardians even took to the skies with their ships to engage the Cabal drop ships and heavy cruisers followed by whatever spare combat ready ships that the towers could supply to experienced non-Guardian fliers.
Meanwhile a Guardian ran through the streets of the City's District 5 housing sector while her Ghost blared the evacuation alarm.
However before some civilians could evacuate some of the buildings were struck by large jagged spheres that soon disintegrated reveling their contents as rubble fell about them.
Cabal shock troopers accompanied by Scions.
The Guardian raised her auto-rife, immediately opening fire into the Cabal ranks, tearing off three of the large alien's protective helmets sending them gasping for their air. The remaining large Cabal hunkered down behind rubble forcing the Guardian herself to dive behind cover as they exchanged fire.
Though the Scions broke off from the engagement taking aim at the dozens of humans that ran panicked from the battlefield, the barks of their rifles echoed in the Guardian's ears as she could only watch as her charges jerked from the force of being shot before falling to the ground lifeless.
They wouldn't come back. They weren't Guardians. Humanity's dangerously low population dropped even lower with every bark of the Scions rifles. In a rare fit of emotion unbefitting of a Warlock she gathered the storm with her light, binding it to her body for a moment only to be consumed in arc energy. She become the element of lighting itself and with a heavy warcry she blinked from her cover directly in front of the entrenched Cabal. Before they could even raise their rifles, their bodies began to scream from the sheer fecorcity of the storm that their armor fused into flesh turning them into heaping chunks of burnt organic matter mixed with metal as they died.
"Guardian! Guardian! You need to calm down or you're going to hit the people!" Cried Ghost running itself in front of the visor.
Those words alone were enough to rip the Warlock from her fury and with a calming breath the storm dissipated from her form, leaving the street somewhat darker.
"Attention all Citizens." Began Ghost broadcasting his voice to the gathering group of humans that watched the battle's end. "You all need to evacuate th- the- the city..." Ghost flickered for a second before its lone eye drifted up towards the Traveler in worry.
The largest Cabal ship in the attack had placed itself on the Traveler and began to deploy some sort of barrier around it.
"Something's wr-wrong." Ghost flickered once more before falling to the ground with a clang, the single eye Ghost possessed dimming. The Guardian felt it too as she dropped to her knees.
Even the humans saw what had happened. They approached their savior with worried looks, some even trying to help the Guardian stand while others began making their way towards an evac zone.
It felt like the light had been torn from her very being, her soul itself felt like it was gone now. The very light that she had nurtured since her revival, to the campaign against the Taken King, and the execution of the Devil Splicers in the SIVA bunkers had just been ripped out.
To make matters worse was three more Cabal drop-spheres landing nearby uncovering a Centurion and half a dozen Cabal.
The Guardian raised her rifle but her aim was shaky, her vision blurred, and everything felt heavier. The Cabal seemed to know of this and slowly strode forward without a care, discharging their rounds into the mass of people as the Centurion ignored all else, keeping his eyes on the weakened Guardian.
With a grunt the Centurion back-handed her, ripping the helmet clean off, revealing a set of emerald hues that glared fiercely at him. She tried reaching for her Ghost but the Centurion noticed and stomped his heavy foot onto Ghost and her hand with a dark crunch.
She cried out, not from pain, but from the sheer excruciating emotional tear from her Ghost being smashed. He had always joked about becoming a tortured Ghost from all the Hive they faced. Now he was nothing more than pieces embedded in her now crushed hand. He wasn't just her tool for revival, he was her little light in this universe of darkness, and most importantly a dear friend that she owed everything to.
Now he was gone
The Centurion made a noise that sounded like amusement before extending the heated blade from his wrist, tracing it across her forehead allowing blood to seep into her golden blond hair then down into her right eye.
"You may kill me now you filthy slug but I will return far stronger then you could ever comprehend." Threatens the Guardian, spitting blood onto his pearly white armor, her eyes burning with immense furt. "And when I do. I'm coming for you!"
The Centurion's only reply was ramming his blade into the Guardian's chest ignoring the armor that had once been from Aksis and his Splicers, lifting her high in the air over his head earning chants from his men. She let out a grunt from it all, she had grown used to dying by a blade; the Hive were fond of them and this time she only had the extra heat to contend with.
Yet as she was slammed back onto the ground and the Centurion moved on to clear the district. The Guardian ran her unbroken hand over the wound, feeling the warm sensation of blood soaking into the fabric of her gloves, she brought the hand up to her face. The red liquid of life was heavy, everything was. She just felt so damn tired...
As her final moments came with breathing becoming much harder, her eyes took one last good look at the city that she had defended for centuries, she had seen generations of families grow up and die, she remembered taking some orphans under her wing when the City pleaded for help. She'd been here for as long as the City had, she actually designed some of the schools with the normal people even attending classes to show the people and their children some 'space magic'.
Her eyes began to slowly shut. With this being her final death, her eyes moved looking up to the sky filled with ash and fire, it looked exactly how it did when she died in the Golden Age, how fitting it looked this way with her final death.
A final breath and the Guardian died one last time.
SIVA PROTOCOL: ORION ACTIVATED...