The Ambassadors
"You alright, Aro?" Daniel asked, leaning his large frame against him, "You've been quiet. And you've got your head in that weird book again."
Aro simply hummed in response. He was still thinking about the day before on Mars. And the "weird book" was Toland's journal. It was a surprise Daniel didn't recognize it. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen it since the last time he saw Toland before the exile. His father was still alive then so it really was a while ago.
Aro rarely had time to read it and when he did, it felt as if it was an invasion of the dead man's privacy. But Gluttony or Toland, whatever he wanted to go by, said it was his now. Maybe if he could find out about his motivations and what led him to become a Herald, he would understand the others.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"It's fine. I'm just being myself again." Aro gave him a reassuring smile, closing the journal.
Daniel didn't seem convinced, "Alright. But you know you can tell me anything right?"
"Yeah. I know." Aro kissed him and got out of bed to prepare for the day. Their meeting with the Vanguard. Aro had gotten the message just as he got back. They had requested the presence of the entire clan. Whatever this was, Shaxx was right; this was big.
Aro had finished slightly earlier than Daniel. He watched him stare at the shimmering gold watch on his desk before deciding to slip it on. A gift from his father with a simple set of instructions. Protect these with your life. That was it. Not what it was for or why they should bother to protect it in the first place. But despite this, he had started wearing it regularly again, almost to the point that it became strange to see him without it.
"You ready to go?" Asura asked from the couch when he heard Aro's door open. Aro nodded silently, prompting him to hop off the couch and move out of the door. Aro followed with Daniel close behind. There was little talking. No one had even the slightest idea what this was supposed to be about. The rest of their clan stood outside the Vanguard meeting room, chatting idly.
"Katrina." Aro called as he moved towards her. She was deep in a conversation with Mira, "I take it you all are feeling better?"
"If by better you mean, has the exhaustion gone from debilitating to just terrible, then absolutely." She said with an exaggerated smile.
Aro smiled back, a genuine one, "Besides the pain, you're Rank IV now. It's got to feel good, doesn't it?"
"It's largely honorific. Not much has changed. The biggest thing is that we now qualify for the Vanguard position."
"Not that it's ever going to happen." Mira mumbled.
"Anyway, do you know what this is about Aro?" Katrina asked.
"Not in the slightest. Shaxx just told me yesterday on Mars."
Mira's eyes lit up, "Asura told me about that. He even showed me a recording of how you won."
"That's how you beat Gluttony isn't it?" Katrina asked softly, "If it takes that kind of power just to beat a weakened one…" she chuckled mirthlessly, "Well…shit."
"Katrina-"
"Don't worry about it, Aro. I know my team was given the choice on whether or not to join your clan despite what happened. We stand by our decision."
Mira pointed between them, "Let's go. They're letting us in."
The entire group moved into the room where the Vanguard was waiting. Ikora and Zavala had serious, almost dour looks on their faces.
Cayde looked bored with it all, as he always did. He looked up from his map as he heard them moving in, "The gang's all here. Let's get this over with. Shin, can you hear me?" Cayde called.
"Loud and clear. Too loud actually. Stop shouting."
Aro could hear Shaxx chuckling behind him.
Shin Malphur had left some months ago on another extended trip and had called back from wherever he was. Somewhere in South America, last Aro had heard.
Ikora cleared her throat, "Now before we begin, Kayla, you had something you wanted to tell us?"
The young Exo stepped forward, "We can discuss it more in detail later. But besides the usual things I hear from Rasputin, I've been…" she hesitated, "I've been hearing a second voice."
If Cayde wasn't awake before, he definitely was now, "A second voice? Do you know who it might be?"
"Do you know what it might be?" Ikora added.
"No. None at all."
"Hmm." Ikora said thoughtfully, "You're right, we will have to speak more later. Stick around after this. You as well, Aashir."
"Yes ma'am."
"If there isn't anything else?" Zavala took a deep breath and started, "The Reef has reached out to us. They want to begin the process of an official alliance."
A map of the entire Sol System was brought up on the meeting table and zoomed in towards the Asteroid Belt where The Kingdom of the Reef was situated.
"As you know, we've had multiple alliances with the Reef in the past. All of them unofficial and impromptu. The most recent was during the Battle of Twilight Gap and the Reef Wars. This alliance was ended abruptly as they delivered an aerial strike while we had three fireteams on the ground. Not only were they killed, their Ghosts were destroyed. The Consensus then voted to cut off the alliance once the fights were over and we have had very little contact with them ever since."
Aro took the short pause to look around and gauge the expressions of his clanmates. The results were varied. Some seemed to realize how big of a deal this was. Some seemed to not care at all.
Then there was Erek, who was bright red and turning brighter by the second. His eyes were wide, pupils were shrunk and Aro could just faintly spot a pulsating vein on his blue forehead. Everyone knew he wasn't very fond of the Reef. He was almost surprised he couldn't feel the temperature of the room start rising or electricity crackling through the air.
"Losing hold of their abilities when their emotions spin out of control? You're projecting, Aro." Kain mumbled in his head.
Ignoring his Ghost, Aro faced the Vanguard, "What does this have to do with all of us specifically, Commander?" He dreaded what the answer would be and dread even more the reactions it might elicit.
"All fifteen members of the Will of Light clan will do work for their Queen. But it will be Teams Aro and Daniel that will spend the next several months living there."
The color suddenly left Erek's face. He never specified what made him leave the Reef around a decade ago but he always had a negative reaction whenever the Reef was mentioned. This, however was a bit extreme.
"WHAT?!" The man roared, loud enough that it was probably heard outside as well.
"Erek!" Daniel whispered between clenched teeth, "Calm the fuck down!"
"I implore you to reconsider. Please!", Erek practically begged.
Despite the disrespectful outburst, all three members of the Vanguard seemed saddened, "We did. Multiple times."
"You-you can't send someone else? Anyone else?!"
"Teams Mira, Katrina and Aashir are needed here on Earth. We chose you six because the Queen of the Reef is also to be alerted to the danger we all face. You will tell her everything."
"Cayde...please. You-you can't…you can't send me back there!"
Cayde looked down, his shoulders drooping, "I'm sorry kid. I tried." He then straightened up, "Besides, you knew you couldn't run away for long. You told me yourself. It's time you confronted this."
"Erek…" Kayla tried to put a hand on his shoulder but was roughly shaken off. The Awoken man stalked out of the Vanguard Hall without another word or look at anyone. The door slid shut behind him but despite the thickness of the walls, all could hear a loud bang from just outside."
Zavala agitatedly rubbed his eyes, "You six leave next week. Settle anything you need to here on Earth before then. Dismissed."
They all walked out, quietly conversing among themselves. A couple of people had stopped in the hallway, no doubt wondering the reason for the yelling and the loud crash
Daniel leaned closer to Aro, "I'm going to go find him. I'll see you later tonight."
Aro nodded and something in the wall caught his eye. A dent. Fist shaped, bloody and smoldering red. His control was slipping.
"Hurry. Before he punches something else."
Daniel nodded before taking off. Kain came out and began repairing the wall, "We know how he feels about the Reef but what could've caused something as extreme as this?" it asked.
Aro sighed. The day just started and he was already exhausted, "We'll find out soon enough."
"Do we want to?"
"No. I don't think we do."