Rustling. That's all it was. The light noise of something trying to move silently through the brush. Than the rustling stopped. Only to be replaced by the familiar buzz of a charging weapon. These two small, distinct noises are what made me snap my eyes open, only to see the glowing blue barrel of a Fallen Vandal's rifle.

"Shit." Was all the half-awake me could get out before my face was blasted in, the Fallen celebrating their easy kill with alien cheers and wild shots of their pistols and rifles. But it their moment of celebration, my Ghost had been repairing my corpse, my sight returning first, so I had already begun planning my attack.

"Get 'em Felix." Were the words uttered by the small robot as I drew my knife and sliced upward, cutting along a Dreg's spine. The sight of their brother falling dead at their feet was answered by firing everything they had at me.

"Ok, I should have thrown my grenade" I admitted, cursing myself as I flipped backwards over the box that I had been laying against, desperate for some rest after hours of searching and fighting, I had fallen asleep on the spot. I had my auto rifle in my hand before even hitting the ground. I grunted from the quick movement so soon after revive. As I spun out from behind cover, the enraged aliens began reloaded their weapons. Bad timing for them. Their vengeful anger soon turned to fear, as all but one of the hideous creatures were mowed down by my powerful weapon, a gun that I aptly named Atheon's Epilogue after defeating a powerful Vex machine, almost like their deity, with it. That had been a fun day, that was my second time killing a god. I nonchalantly discarded my old ammo clip, slamming the new round of shots into the gun, grinning to myself, a bit of a bloodlust taking over me. As I looked up, a chuckle escaped my lips at the final Fallen's feeble attempt at sprinting away from me, the Guardian that probably looked like a blood-splattered demon. I quickly put my gun into my other hand, grabbed my newly bloodied knife from it's sheath in a fluid pull, and in one smooth move, spun it in my hand, aimed quickly, and threw. It all happened in seconds, and probably looked pretty fricking badass. I had accounted for everything; the wind, the speed of the running Dreg, the vines his blade would need to slice through, and my quick, Warlock-level calculation had paid off. It struck the fleeing creature directly in the back of the skull, possibly with enough force to let the tip emerge from between it's eyes. I would check later. I turned around quickly, my eyes sweeping across the Ishtar Sink, the region of Venus I was exploring, making sure no reinforcements were near, than I firmly gripped my gun in my hands as I put my habit of checking the corpses for any valuable items, most importantly, engrams, into practice. A slightly rare engram was the only thing I found on those bodies, green in color, it could get me an alright price from Rahool, I mean, I did still have a reputation of always bringing good gear back to the Tower to uphold.

"That could have gone better," sighed ny Ghost, it's voice sounding annoyed, it was hard to tell with him, "They killed you before you even woke up."

I groaned in exasperation.

"C'mon, it was one time, and you know I haven't gotten much sleep recently."

"You still always need to be on your guard" Chided the Ghost, almost parentally

"Who'd you get that from? Shaxx?" I chuckled at my joke as I jogged over to retrieve my knife from the dead Dreg. Lord Shaxx was always chastising us Guardians for making mistakes, despite how annoying it was for everyone, honestly, I think he just wanted to tick us off.

"No, I'm just saying..."

"You're just saying that you're being a downer, apology excepted. Now look, I did get the poor bastard between the eyes! That's pretty impressive, even for me." I turned the corpse over as my Ghost went silent, examining the thin slit between the eyes of the Dreg, the blue paint on his helmet speckled with blood.

"Wait... Blue? That means these guys were with the House of Wolves. But the Queen controls the Wolves..." I growled angrily, I didn't exactly have strong feelings for the Queen of the Reef, not counting the attraction I had toward her, I mean, she's was pretty, and her "better-than-you" attitude was like she was playing hard to get. But that didn't matter, she had sent the Fallen after me, and boy, did I want to know why.

My Ghost chuckled, the sound was still strange in my head, robotic, but human and warm at the same time.

"So, is your little crush suspected of attempted murder now?"

"Well, they did kill me. And who'd you know? I don't tell you anything" The Ghost begins to talk but falters as I am teleported up to orbit, my ship's cockpit replacing the green of Venus.

"I monitor your vitals, your heart rate went up when we were there, but it was a different spike than fear, so I made an assumption."

"You're one freaky little bot, you know that?" I chuckle, removing my helmet, watching it dematerialize in my hands, sent to wherever my Sparrow and other weapons are sent when I'm not using them. I don't know the details of how all of this works, despite the best efforts of Jaeger, my Warlock friend, who tried and failed to get me to understand.

My Ghost appears near me, his small pieces spinning around his core as he looked at me.

"But what will we do with her?"

"I don't know, maybe it was a misunderstanding and the Fallen were acting under a rising leader in their ranks." I suggested, realizing this could be the real answer.

"You just wanna see her don't you?" Interrogated my Ghost.

"No! I just wanna be sure... You can tell if she's lying right? Watching her vitals and all?" I stuttered nervously, changing the subject.

"Maybe, it depends on how close I am."

"Ok..." We sat in silence as we jumped into hyperdrive, the Ghost monitoring the radio frequencies. Finally, he turned to an unknown channel, and a loud alarm burst through the ship's radio.

"Ah! Turn it down!" I groan, sure my eardrums were about to pop. My Ghost turned off the volume, my helmet appearing on my head, and my Ghost quickly debriefing me.

"It's a distress beacon from the Queen, the Fallen have turned against her, and her palace was overrun, she needs immediate assistance as her ship is damaged."

"Holy shit, the Awoken lost?"

"Apparently so" I turned over what to do in my mind, we could aid the fight against the Fallen at her palace, but the Queen might die. But if he want for her, more people would die, and he couldn't take the palace till a later day.

"Oh goddamn... Where's her ship? And can we fit two people in here? If only for the short jump?" I groaned, this was gonna be awkward.

"Heh, it would be fine if she sat in cargo, she'd be a little banged up, but she would live. Oooor, she can sit on your lap." Teased my Ghost, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Seriously Ghost, where can she sit and be safe?" I was growling again, annoyed with his teasing.

"I was serious about your lap, the bay isn't big enough for a person, just some gear." I groaned again, but sighed and realized it's gonna happen.

"Get us a comm link with her, and find her ship. I wanna be out of here ASAP. And Ghost? Shut up when we're talking." I said, letting a bit of my annoyance slip, which I shouldn't have.

"Alright. Setting up comms now." I can't tell if I hurt his feelings or not, but at this point, I didn't care. Static crackled over my helmet's comms, a soft, smooth voice filling my ears.

"Who is this? If you are an ally of the Reef, assist me at once, you will be rewarded." I silently curse, I can't believe this.

"Hey there Your Majesty, I'm the Guardian Felix Stanley, I'm here to help. Is your ship capable of making a short jump to Earth?" The Queen sighed in annoyance, sounding all high and mighty. It made me gulp nervously.

"No, I cannot make a jump. I am not as helpless as I may look Guardian, I understand how to work a ship."

"I'm Felix, don't call me Guardian." Once again she sighed, not even trying to hold in her annoyance.

"Do not push me... Felix, you were interesting to me once, I may not be as generous now. Now, how will we get to Earth?"

"Well, if you can't jump, you'll need to get on my ship." Or ships pulled into view of each other, and I finally saw what was left of her palace, a torn up wreck of metal and rock, maybe it was a good idea to come for her, especially since the Fallen were now leaving.

"How am I going to get into your ship?"

"My Ghost can teleport you, but you may not enjoy the seat that you'll be given"

"And why is that?"

"It's gonna have to be... my lap." I breathe deeply in embarrassment, my cheeks burning redder than Mars.

"I see... It seems I was correct when I said you were interesting. And my dear brother wanted me to kill you, even when you had a debt to pay to me."

"I know that I owe you, but when you come to the Tower, you won't be living like a Queen, so you may have to cash in that favor another time."

"I see, well, we shouldn't delay. Have your Ghost get me aboard, and than we shall be on our way." motion for Ghost to board her ship. Him being even that far away, barely a kilometer, felt strange, he was in my mind, and he had to leave temporarily, leaving me feeling a little bit empty.

"I can't believe I'm doing this... I can't let people know that the Queen is staying at the Tower..." I let out a gasp as a weight suddenly appeared on me, not heavy at all, but I wasn't prepared for anything yet. I run my eyes up the Queen's purple and gold clad back, the decorative pieces of metal and fur were off, leaving her in only the skin-tight suit. Her white hair hand just past her shoulders, and it was as big and shaggy as ever. Her warmth lay against me, completely relaxed, as if I were a chair.

"Hello Guardian," she paused for half of a second, a shadow of a smile crossed her face. It was probably a trick of the light, "I am not extremely pleased with the seating, but it will do." She looks back at me, smiling mysteriously, almost curiously.

"Let us go." I nod to my Ghost, and he begins our trip home.

I sink onto the sofa in my quarters, the Queen looks around my room, face blank as usual.

"So you live here?"

"Yes, this is my room. The bathroom is through there," I point at the door on the right side of the room, "the kitchen is there," I point at the far side of the room, the small area with a stove and sink out in the open, "and the bed." I point at the two-person bed next to the front door. She cautiously sat down on the bed.

"This is all?"

"Yup."

"You live quite simply Guardian, though everyone lives simply in the eyes of a queen." She was silent for a while longer, looking at the floor. Something was bothering her, as I was about to ask, she had practically read my mind.

"I'm afraid that my brother may not have survived the battle, he ran off to fight after delivering me to my ship." I look at her, sitting straight now. Being totally honest, I wouldn't mind if the guy had died, he was a first-rate asshole. But I wouldn't say that to her face, obviously.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty, but I don't see how anyone could survive that. The Fallen eradicated your palace."

"I know, but I will continue to hope that some of my people survived." She went silent again, her face downtrodden, more emotion than I'd ever seen her show.

"Do you have a shower?"

"Yeah, in the bathroom. Towels are in the cabinet on the right of the door." She stood slowly and walked past me, stopping at the bathroom door.

"Thank you for helping me Guar... Felix..." She smiled slightly, making my heart flutter a bit. I watched her walk in and turn the water on. I sighed and rested my head back, laying my arm over my eyes. After a while of waiting, I yelled out to the Queen.

"I have to go to the Tower Hub, you stay here, ok? I just need to turn in some jobs and buy some ammo, I'm running a little low for my rocket launcher." I waited for a second, making sure she heard me, than added, "I'm also gonna get my fireteam, I need to fill them in on what's happening. I could get my friend to borrow some of her old armor, she's a Warlock, so it's not to cramped into armor." I wait longer, than here her yelling back,

"Alright, make sure not inform anyone that I used your shower, understood?"

"Yeah, you got it." Than, I smile in spite of myself, maybe this isn't such a bad thing.

Ok guys, I'm new to the site, so give me a ton of feedback, I'm almost done with Chapter 2, so you won't need to wait long. If you want it bad enough, I'll consider making a special Felix+Queen chapter. Thanks a lot guys