He had continued popping in on her from time to time between missions, over the next eighteen months. Slowly, surely, she had converted the devastated house that was her little shelter into a workshop of sorts. Inconspicuous on the outside, but the inside housed two sawhorses, an innumerable amount of tools, and quite a few parts that were littered around the rest of the space. Mostly guardians popped in and out for repairs that couldn't wait, or those who were short on glimmer came by to propose a trade for scrap that was hard to get within the city walls or other goods she required, though a few civilians also came by with broken radios, trackers, and comm devices. She'd managed the funds to pick up a few broken data tablets, and repair them to functionality.

It always impressed him, watching her work. He hadn't let her work on his sparrow way back when, but at present, she had an old one balanced between the saw horses, and was working on its engine with practiced ease, though she said it was her first, and it was a salvage she'd purchased - just in case she broke something beyond repair. She was pragmatic and practical, and he had to admire her tenacious personality when it came to learning new things. Her skill with Golden Age tech was undeniable, and on occasion, he would tell her so.

His ghost was particularly enamored, practically adopting the girl as her own, speaking to her quite frequently when it was only the three of them. "She's gonna have to raise prices at this rate. I heard a few of the new hunters say she's got a week turn-around now."

"Yeah, what's with them breaking everything all the time?" She wiped sweat from her brow and looked up at the pair at his ghost's snort. "I've only seen two warlocks, and they said the only reason their stuff is broken is because of a hunter on their squad."

"Fireteam," Zavala replied. "They're called a fireteam."

"Ah. You have one?"

"Of sorts, usually we go on missions with different guardians each time. However, some guardians have a specific team they prefer. I find myself working with Shaxx, and our mentor, Lord Saladin."

"Titans tend to stick together," She replied, tightening one of the bolts to the chassis after closing the engine compartment. She'd heard tidbits about the Iron Lord through her rapidly increasing clientele. "I think I like them best."

Zavala couldn't help but smile. A warm feeling washed over him as he asked, "Do you now?"

She nodded. "Yeah. You're like knights in shining armor. Literally."

She can tell he likes the comment, because his ghost spins around him and gushes, "Look at you, big guy, you're blushing. Haven't seen that in a while. Good work, kiddo." He swats at her shell in a half-hearted attempt, clearing his throat as he does so.

Amanda can't help but smile. "They gonna send you out any time soon?"

He shrugs. "One can never tell. I think I'll be making a run to one of the settlements outside the Cosmodrone soon, to pick up supplies."

"Like, a flight?"

He nods.

"D'ya think - nah, nevermind."

"It won't be my jumpship," he says, as though she hasn't just tried to ask. He knows what she wants. Even his ghost has mentioned it to him. They can see it in her eyes, whenever one of them shares a story about a run to the other side of the globe or, on occasion, another planet. "It's a transport ship." He reclines back on the workbench, propping his upper back against one of the outlying walls, before casting his eyes downward to gaze at her intently. "Plenty of room for stowaways."

She drops the wrench in her hand and it clatters noisily to the floor. He jerks at the sound. Her eyes are blown wide and glassy with what terrifies him to think are tears. "You mean it?"

He feels the brush of his ghost in the back of his mind. No going back on this one, Guardian. You'll crush her. She's conscientious not to say it out loud, but he can see the serious gaze of her optics.

"Yes," he nods, and is surprised by the tightness of his own voice.

The little girl rushes toward him, throwing her arms around his neck and pushing her face into his cheek. His arms come around her and he hears her litany of gratitude in a breathless mumble into the side of his face. She's smiling and crying and the force of her emotions are too much for him to do much more than hold her tightly in response and hope he hasn't just made a terrible decision.

-/

Naturally, he had.

The second he touches down in Old Russia, he sees what's left of the few guardians fighting against throngs of Hive enemies. His cheery co-pilot, eager to learn and so excited to come along gasps and shakes at the sight of the gore. He bangs his fist on the console as he takes them down, cursing his abandonment of the rules. It's the first time he's bent them for a civilian, and he realizes that it may cost her her life if he doesn't put this situation to rights quickly.

"I am going to put this ship down, and you will stay in here. If you hear activity on the ship and it is not me, hide under the control panel and hit this button," he points to a green flashing light on the control panel, "to alert my ghost."

At that, his ghost bobs in the affirmative. "All will be well, co-pilot. Just got to stop some baddies, pick up the supplies, and then we'll get this hunk of metal back to the city."

Zavala casts a glance at his ghost. She's oddly maternal toward the girl, but he's not about coddling her on matters like these; Amanda knows about the dangers of what lies outside the Last City. The anxious spin of her shell tells him she knows she's embellishing. This won't be an easy mission for them, if the welcome party is any indication.

Once she's alone, Amanda re-thinks everything she's ever though on the Fallen being the most frightening of Earth's invaders. The Hive are truly terrifying. She'll never un-hear the scream of the Wizard she sees plummet past the ship and above the throng of Hive, or be able to un-see the Thrall mowing down fighters. Above all, she's terrified for her friend. He's told her before in no uncertain terms that guardians don't die like regular folk. But, if something tears you limb from limb, Amanda doesn't see how a person can come back from that, blue skin, glowing eyes and fists, or otherwise.

She clicks on the radio in the cockpit - Zavala had immediately turned it off the second he realized what was happening on the ground - and listens to the gunfire and screams at close range. She hears him yelling directions, taking control of the other guardians, and forces herself to stay calm. He'll save as many people as he can, and be fine himself.

She knows it.

-/

"Amanda, Amanda, you there?"

The voice over the radio sounds an awful lot like Zavala's ghost. She flicks the switch on the input. "I'm here."

"Open up the bay door, you know which button?"

She leans forward and flips a red toggle. The radio crackles with static as the hydraulics whir to life.

"Good girl," The ghost says gently. "Supplies are transmatting. I'll close it when it's done on this end."

"Where's Zavala?"

"Had to split up get into range. He's coming." Amanda can't help but notice the almost tinny quality of her voice. She sounded exhausted. Did ghosts get tired from fighting? They didn't actually fight, that much she knew. "I'm going to go back to him. We have most of the threat contained, once the rest of the guardians get to their jumpships, we'll be good to go."

There's a few moments of anxiety before she hears the roaring of jumpships, and then she sees six of them take off into the sky. She doesn't see Zavala or fighting, though she's managed to toggle the radar and can see a whole army of them swarming further away.

A bloody palm slaps against the window of the cockpit and she screams.

"No, no, open the door Amanda, it's us!" His ghost pops into view, exasperated.

Despite her panic she manages to click open the door to the cockpit. The ghost flits over to her as Zavala manages to pull himself inside, practically collapsing into the seat. He looks at her with dull eyes, practically unseeing.

"Zavala! You're hurt!" She says in a hushed voice, her eyes wide and horrified.

He opens his mouth to respond but only blood leaks out, "Ahhm," he coughs before going still.

"Zavala!" She screams. "Zavala! No, no, no. Not again, not again!"

"Amanda." His ghost is calm, though her voice sounds tired. "It's okay."

She reaches for his wrist, and feels for a pulse. There isn't one. She releases it and pushes his head to one side in an attempt to feel his pulse that should be thrumming on the underside of his jaw.

"Amanda!"

"He's dead," she whimpers, sobs bubbling from her throat. "I - I thought guardians couldn't die," She says between muffled sobs.

"Amanda Holliday, listen to me."

The girl looks up at the ghost, her shell spinning furiously. "I need you to buckle him in, and get this ship off the ground. Can you do that?"

"I-"

"There's no time to doubt yourself. There are people counting on us to get these supplies to safety. Can you do it?"

Swiping at her eyes and steeling herself, she nods.

Buckling the Titan in is a challenge. He's dead weight (she tries not to focus on the dead part, despite hearing her heartbeat in her ears chanting dead - dead - dead with each pump of blood she gets that he doesn't) and when she pulls the harness over his head it tips forward onto her shoulder. She leaves it there while she finishes pulling the bottom part of the buckle from under his leg and buckles it with a bit of difficulty. There's blood dripping from his mouth down her shirt, as well as frothy saliva, but she swallows down a gag and puts a hand on each of his cheeks, shoving him back against the headrest so that he's propped up. She clambers up on his knees quickly, giving him a peck on the forehead and a quick hug before returning to her seat and buckling in, unable to stop herself. Just in case she doesn't get a chance later to say goodbye.

"There are an army of Hive headed towards the ship. We have to be off the ground before they get to us," His ghost is beginning to glow. "I can rez him while you fly."

"Rez?"

"Resurrect. No time to explain the how. I can't rez and pilot this thing at the same time."

Swallowing her gasp at the prospect of the little ghost bringing him back, Amanda the switches to start the engines and and grips the lever that toggles the landing gear, pulling it as she pushes forward the thrusters. She's only watched Zavala do it on the way there, and tried her best to commit everything to memory. Hopefully she had.

The ghost's shell seems to be pushed away, as she lights up, core spinning with that blue glow like his fists had, that time he saved her from the fallen. She sways back and forth as she does her work.

Their takeoff is shaky, she can hear the sound of gunfire against the hull, and the supplies rattle around in the back of the ship. She gulps, and pushes the thrusters harder. It's enough to jolt her back in her seat, and she grips the steering control hard to keep it from wavering further. The ship hurdles forward, just in time for her to see arriving ships. Their armor is that dark purple and orange that signify the Fallen, and a bang of a ship's lazer against the shields causes Zavala's ghost to shutter and her core to dim for a moment in distraction.

"Oh no," the ghost says, already beginning to glow as she recollects herself. "This is going to be a rough one."

"For him or for me?" Amanda quips.

"The both of you." She sets back to work as the girl attempts to steer around the rapidly approaching Fallen vessels while thwarting any stray shots from the Hive at her back. "I'm not usually interrupted while bringing him back," The ghost's voice is laiden with strain. "And we rezzed so many on the field that I've barely got the energy."

Amanda didn't look, couldn't look away from the scene ahead of her to see what was happening with all of the blue light. She had to get them out of here. "I'm guessing you're both gonna need a good rest after this one."

The ghost laughed, her partner igniting with the blue ripples of arc energy. "Yeah," she said, as he gasped for breath, coughing out the remains of blood and ichar in his lungs, his eyes staying shut though he was very definitely breathing. The ghost settled down onto his shoulder, nestled between his neck, shoulder, and the back of the headrest, her optics dim and indicative of her exhaustion. "You're not kidding," she said, before her light died down to a very muted blue.

Amanda chanced a glance between evasive maneuvers, figuring that was the ghost's 'standby' mode, of sorts. At least she hoped. Zavala's chest moved up and down, like he was sleeping, and she prayed to the Traveler looming half-covered by the horizon she'd be able to get the ship back without trouble.

Flying felt second nature to her, even if the ship felt wide and less responsive than the ones she piloted in her dreams. She wasn't really keen on the bits where she was fired at, but as she barreled in a quick spiral to avoid one ship and dodge the blast from another, she decided that it could have gone worse.

It took an hour to stop seeing the Fallen ships, and she made sure to check the radar and satellite data to make sure they were on course and not being followed, adjusting her course slightly to keep making time. The jump-ships she'd seen leave were much faster than this transport, so she kept an eye out for any blips on the radar to indicate another vessel headed their way, and settled in for the long haul. It'd be at least another eight hours before they'd see lands she was familiar with, if the ride there was any indication.

-/

When he woke, it was not to gunfire and calamity like he'd expected. He was used to this sensation, the slight bit of memory loss associated with a difficult resurrection. Though something nagged at him, it was just slightly out of reach. His consciousness blinked out, though his thoughts remained. He'd been doing something, transporting civilians - no, something else - and -

"Cargo transport ship zero - three - two requesting airspace clearance. Vanguard authorization code eight - six - two - seven," His ghost rattles off. "Closing in on the EDZ, estimated arrival time two and a half hours."

The radio crackled. "Authorization granted. You're making good time," Came the reply of a female guardian. "See you landside."

"Aashima," He breathes his ghost's name, not quite opening his eyes yet.

Said ghost flutters directly into his peripheral as he does, tutting softly. "It's about time you joined us."

"Us? I -" He lurches forward, awake now, almost headbutting her as he does. She stutters backward and allows him to gather his bearings. The cockpit is dark, and the sky in front of him even more so, the Milky Way prominent against the stars. He looks to his right. She's not making eye contact, instead, scanning the radar and pushing gently on the thrusters to move forward, sweeping her gaze across the horizon.

"Glad you're back," Amanda says, when he shakes out the stiffness in his joints. "Gave me a scare," she continues, softer.

A hard look in his ghost's direction has her speaking quickly. "What do you last remember?"

He gives the girl a pointed look, then looks back at Aashima.

"You got into that seat and croaked on us," Amanda said when no one spoke. "Aashima - that's your name right? Never heard 'em use it before," She jerked her thumb up at the ghost, who bobbed in the affirmative. "Aashima used her light to bring you back while I out flew the Hive's guns and a couple'a Fallen ships -"

"Couple?"

"More like half a dozen," The ghost provided brightly and Zavala groaned.

"...And half-rezzed you," She looked to the ghost again for clarification on the new term, "But she got interrupted 'cause the shields got a little battered 'n it jolted her pretty good."

"I… see…" He sighed, alert enough now to be concerned. "Does anyone else happen to know that Amanda's piloting this ship?"

"Nope," Both girl and ghost say at the same time.

"As far as the Vanguard is concerned, I've been piloting it the whole time you've been out. Nothing happened, right?" The ghost's optics flicker over to Amanda who shakes her head.

"Nah, I outran the Fallen, flipped off the seatbelt sign once we got high enough and have been doing my best to make good time. When you came to, I was just gettin' out of the cradle."

The ghost and guardian exchanged a glance. The ghost hummed sheepishly while the guardian asked, "We were both out?"

Amanda shrugged. "Yea, but it wasn't a big deal. Everything's fine back there, I pulled up a visual once we were out of hostile airspace." She cues it up again for him to confirm, stifling a yawn as she does. He does the math. They've been in the air for at least six hours, and she hadn't slept the whole way there in her excitement. It's been at least a day that she's been awake, under stress and on high alert at that. She's a girl, not a soldier.

He reaches for the controls. "I'll take it from here, if you'd like to rest." She nods, and he can't help but feel guilty that he's been unconscious for the last however many hours - long enough that the girl is actually tired. It hits him hard to realize that if she hadn't been there, it's possible he might not have made it out, or at the very least, he'd still be there waiting to be rezzed while the Hive thinned out and retreated back to their holes.

Her hand reaches over to his arm and squeezes before she curls up as best she can with the harness on. "I'm really glad you're okay," She says, green eyes serious. "I don't want to lose you."

Aashima waits until she's done a scan to confirm the girl is asleep to speak. "This was kind of a disaster. I didn't know if she'd be able to pull through. She hesitated pretty hard when you died. Really thought I'd have to try and fly this thing, and we both know I'm a bad pilot."

He hums. "We are lucky to have had her with us. And even luckier that she did."

"She's a natural flyer," Aashima gushed, lowering her speaker's volume. "And so young. I'll have to run the log when we get back. I really don't know how she got past all of them with this bucket of bolts."

"Perhaps she'll be the best pilot in the solar system someday."

"Don't you think that's a little too far? She's good, especially for it being her first time, but one cargo mission doesn't make her the future hopeful for 'best pilot in the galaxy.'"

Zavala hums, and turns his gaze on the sleeping girl. Something tells him he's not far off.

-/

Notes: The name I've chosen for Zavala's ghost - Aashima - is an Islamic name, meaning 'limitless protector, guardian, defendant.' I thought it was fitting, considering the number of times the ghosts actually rez their guardians. I've seen other fics use different names, and didn't want to steal anyone else's ideas. If anyone comes across info on his ghost's name or gender (I'm assuming female, here), please feel free to assist. I envision his ghost to be a bit like Sagira (with less snark), and for she and Zavala to be a bit more dependent on each other.