"But before I tell you this story, I want to let you guys know that there is one gruesome part in it, so try not to hurl your guts out too much," I said
"Come on, spill it already!" said Jake
"Okay. It all happened six years ago,"
FLASHBACK 6 years ago…
The Last City, Tower
The alarms were blaring, I looked up from my constant battle with my ramen noodles trying to wrestle them into my mouth. I looked to my left and saw a squad of New Monarchy guardians running through the source of the alarm. "Hey, guys! What's going on?" I asked, "There's been a break-in at the armoury." said a hunter, "Crap." I exclaimed. I gave the chef some glimmer as payment from my lunch as I pulled out my Ace of Spades and joined the fireteam. We got to the armoury only to get an explosion in the face. I was the first to be revived, make that the only one to be revived. There was something in that bomb that was deadly to ghosts and guardians. All the other guardians that I was with had died their final deaths. I looked up and saw a grayish white silhouette in the hole, it wore a black trench coat, a black fedora, and a sniper rifle. When I blinked, it was gone. Zavala, Ikora, and Cayde rushed into the room to asses the problem themselves, they saw the dead guardians and ghost parts that littered the entrance, they then looked at me.
"Eleven, what the hell just happened?" asked Zavala
"Well isn't it obvious, we just got robbed bruh," I said
"Yeah we know that, but why are you the only one that's still alive?" said Cayde
"Hmm, I guess because of my good looks," I said
"Heh heh, probably not that. But at least we didn't lose our best guardian," joked Cayde
"This is no laughing matter Cayde, we have lost ten guardians, and possible a stockpile of weapons," said Ikora
"Actually, we only lost one, a sniper rifle," I said
"Wait, just one weapon?" said Cayde
"Yep, hey Nine could you run an analysis on which sniper the thief took?" I asked
"Sure thing," said Nine as he appeared and floated over to the control console and shot beams of data into the screen.
"I'd reckon they only took an uncommon sniper rifle, nothing that's too serious," I said immediately thinking back to a book series that I read when I was a kid after someone always says something like that, they jinx themselves.
"Actually Eleven, they took something very serious," said Nine
"Damn my big mouth!" I cursed
"What did they take ghost?" asked Zavala
"Well let's see, they took an exotic, Hive based, and oh what do you know, it was made by us, the Black Spindle. Wait, why do I sound so pleased?" said Nine
"Shanks," I said
I got a steely glare from Zavala and Ikora, Cayde, on the other hand, seemed to be in mourning of his destroyed stuff. I made that weapon during the war for the moon. I was stuck in the temple of Crota, I killed millions of Hive bane, and had a million thrall chasing me. I was cornered on top of a giant Hive crystal. I had nothing else to do up there but run out of light and ammo. So I started to get my Macgyver on. I chiselled some of the crystal, the walls, and bits of their machines apart and putting them together into a weapon, with some little modifications of my own based off of the Black Hammer. When I was finished, I converted all of my secondary shotgun ammo into sniper rifle ammo and started to fire away at the thrall.
"Guardian Eleven. Cause you are the maker of that weapon, I hereby suspend you from all other duties and make your top priority finding that sniper rifle. We cannot allow a mortal to wield such a weapon." Zavala said
"What!"
"He's telling you that you're grounded," said Cayde
"CAYDE!" said Zavala
"What? I was just clarifying what you said to him. Look at him, he's completely lost," said Cayde, "A word of advice for you, the old Russian Strawberry cocktail helps the pain," he winked
"CAYDE!" they both yelled at him
"What? It does help," said Cayde defending himself
I just felt like I had a huge chunk of me ripped out of me. I felt … empty, hollow, cast aside, stripped of my colours. I felt a longing rage pleading to be released on the awoken titan. I rose to my feet and looked at the titan in the eyes and said, "Fine, but when I find it, you better hope that I don't have any ammo for it, or your day is going to turn for the worst." With that said, I stormed to my quarters and got on my monitor muttering a series of curses under my breath that is best left a mystery. I hammered the keyboard hard, looking for the energy signature of the Black Spindle on the sat feds.
"Can you believe the nerve of that old titan! Relinquishing me of all my duties and putting me on seeker duty! That son of a mother-"
"Okay, how about we calm down, okay. He did make the right choice," said Nine
"What?" I growled
"Like, if the thief where to use it, which will most likely happen, they could become the most notorious mortal assassin of this century," Nine elaborated
I hated it when he was right about something that I hated. So I kept on searching the maps. It took me a whole week to find the Black Spindle, it eventually popped up on the scanners after I decided to search quarantine sector 89.99 CFV, and I found it. It was in an abandoned building. I was so happy to find it, so I could personally beat that thief to a grease spot. I got on my ship and flew off to the thief's rat hole.
When I got there I kicked down the door and shot everything, I didn't care if the Vanguard wanted him alive, I had a score to settle. This punk caused me a whole week of isolation, searching day and night for that stupid gun. When I emptied my drum. I looked around the room, that was now littered with void edged bullet holes.
"Well, I think you got your point across, even though no one's here," said Nine
"What?" I exclaimed
"You only managed to kill a few rats, and shred a few papers, but no thief, unless he's a rat thief," joked Nine
"Not in a laughing mood Nine," I said
"Okay, okay, let's just take a look around, see if they're possibly coming back," said Nine
"Fine, take a look around over there and I will take a look over here," I said pointing left and right
I looked through what remained of the papers that I whaled out on. I read some things that said somethings about recalibrating, some dude named Finn, killing, a place called the Breakfast Kingdom. None of it made sense to me, sorry semi innocent evil plans for shredding you to ribbons without looking at you first.
"Eleven, I think I found something," said Nine from across the room
"Is it the Black Spindle?" I said
"No, something bigger,"
I walked over to see what he was talking about. Then I knew what he was talking about, he was looking at a wall that was covered with notes and pictures of people and places. It mainly talked about some event called Princess Day, killing someone, and trying to hurt someone mentally. There were three pictures with red marker circled around them. One resembled a raspberry with arms legs and a face, another looked nineteen and had pink hair and skin, another looked fifteen had flaming golden yellow skin and flaming orange hair. She looked so beautiful. Another picture that had red marker arrows around him and the word "HURT" a top of him. He had a white bear hat, a blue T-shirt and blue pants, and a green backpack.
"Well, I think we know where the thief is," Nine said, "Let's go," I said. I jumped out of the window and transmatted to my ship. I plotted a course to the Breakfast Kingdom to stop whatever is going to happen down there.
Later in the Breakfast Kingdom …
I was about ninety yards out from the Breakfast Kingdom, and I truly mean it when I say breakfast. The whole kit and kaboodle was breakfast foods and cutlery. A huge castle made of pancakes, bacon, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, and kitchen appliances. Cayde would love this. I transmated outside and forged towards the entrances. A giant bottle of maple syrup with eyes and arms pointed a spear at me.
"Halt! Who goes there?" said the maple guard
"Outta my way ya bottle of syrup!" I said shoving the bottle of syrup aside. I stormed into the castle looking for where all of the princesses were. I must have walked in circles because I saw the same flower pot three times, I was lost, and angry. I was having a really bad day. I raised my fists to the air and yelled.
"Where the hell am I!"
I kick the nearest door open, and then I was facing a gathering of princesses. I stood there frozen, being stared down. "Excuse me, but who are you and what are you doing here?" exclaimed a princess with yellow skin, a pancake for a skirt, a slice of bread for a top, and white hair with bacon on the top. I was speechless, I was in babe heaven. I frantically searched for my words. "Uh, um, ur, ahem," I said, "Apologize ladies, and … living cinnamon buns?" I said being awestruck by the giant-sized cinnamon bun at a table with a fire princess.
"Uh, sorry. My name is Guardian 11, a guardian of the Last City, and I've been tracking a thief that has stolen an exotic sniper rifle about a week ago and have found evidence that they've been planning for possibly months now to assassinate someone here today," I said. A collective gasp filled the room, I raised my hands
"Okay, I know all of you are scared, but only three people in this room need to worry about kicking the bucket," I said, I know that that statement didn't help me in any way and made matters worse.
"But! The people that need to worry are … you, that looks like a raspberry," I said pointing at the raspberry girl
"Uh, Wildberry Princess," she said
"And you, that has the pink hair and skin," I said
"Princess Bubblegum," she said
"Okay, and you, the one that's on fire and sitting next to the giant cinnamon bun that only exists in my dreams!" I said
"Flame Princess," she said
"Okay, you are the ones that need to worry," I said. The room filled with so much commotion I had to lower the volume in my helmet.
"Princesses, please calm down, we don't know if this man is telling the truth, or if he really is who he is," said the pancake princess
"Oh really? You don't believe me? Let me tell you something lady, I take a good guess who is going to be shot, and if I leave probably all of you will die, so make it easy on yourselves and keep me here so none of you get killed!" I said
There was a long silence in the room, except for an occasional cough.
"Okay, you can stay, but you must not interfere with our business," she said
"Wouldn't imagine it." I chuckled thinking of a dirty joke. I walked to a corner and put on an exotic helmet to increase my scanners to find this thief. I leaned against the wall and went to work, doing a whole lotta nothing.
Probably 2 hours later …
I was woken up by a series of beeping, I blinked my eyes trying to adjust them to the radars screen. I squinted and saw the targeting system zooming in on an object perched on a nearby cliff. It was the thief and my Black Spindle. But I saw his face this time. It was wrapped in bandages, he had pointy ears sticking out of his fedora, and huge pink cat eyes. Then I saw his finger about to pull the trigger, I sprang into action. I pulled out my Ace of Spades and yelled "Everyone get down!" the princesses were confused at first, then a bullet whizzed through the window and hit the ground. Everyone was in a panic, running around and screaming. Two more shots were fired, one of the shots sunk harmlessly into the walls (which I too believe are made of pancakes), but the second bullet hit a target. There was a scream, I turned around to see the Flame Princess crumple to the ground holding her gut, with molten lava flowing between her fingers. "Princess!" yelled the giant cinnamon bun. He rushed to her side and examined the wound. I turned to the window, and made a time shield covering the walls, preventing any other bullets from killing anyone else. I too rushed to the flame princess's side.
"How's she doing?" I asked
"I don't know, I've never had this experience before," he said
"Hey, hey. Hi, princess, how many fingers am I holding up?" I asked making a peace sign
"Two," she groaned
I gave him a thumbs up, "She'll live,"
"What? Wait, that's all?" he exclaimed
"Pft, heck no. Nine, could you treat the princess's wound here?" I asked Nine as I summoned him. He looked at the bullet wound.
"Yep, I should be able to heal her," he said as he materialized
"Great, you heal her while got deal with that thief and RIP HIS SPINE OUT OF HIS ASS!" I growled
"Wait, what," Nine said
"See ya later," I said and ran out of the room.
Nine split apart and tried his best to heal the wound with the light. When he looked up he saw the giant cinnamon bun gawking at him, shocked at the sight of a small mechanical AI.
"What's up." Nine said casually
I reached the top of the cliff after numerous attempts to climb a cliff that is covered in maple syrup. I saw the thief. He was muttering to himself angrily. "Stupid guardian, you think you can outsmart me so easily? Where the heck are you anyway?" he said in a very squeaky voice. "Right behind you, ya frikin camper!" I said. She turned around and I kicked her in the face. She looked up and I grabbed her collar, "This is for my honour!" I threw her to the ground, "This is for my dignity!" I grabbed the Black Spindle and cracked the butt of it across her head, "This is for that princess that you shot down there!" I twirled the rifle around and shot the thief's leg. She screamed in agony as she grasped her leg. "Why are you doing this? I thought that you guardians are supposed to protect humans?" I bent down and looked her in the eyes, "Well, to answer that. Your not a human, and I'm off duty because of you," I punched her in the face, by now she was barely conscious. "The Vanguard wants you alive, but they're not here right now, and you've caused me a lot of pain over last week, and I've got a score to settle," I looked down at her disgusted by what has happened to the world within the quarantine sector, contaminated by this filth.
"Please," she begged
"Long live the king," I said and shoved her off the cliff with the heel of my foot, "What the heck did I just do? And why the heck did I just say that?" I asked myself
"Dylan, you need to get back here. Quick!" said Nine in my head
"On my way." I thought
Later …
I returned back to the Breakfast Kingdom to see a crowd of princess outside with an ambulance. I rushed over to see how the flame princess was doing. She was in a hospital bed, being rolled to the ambulance. "Outta the way! Outta my way," I said pushing through the crowd. I saw the flame princess and she wasn't doing so good. Her flames had gone green, the bullet wound has started to sprout veins to the rest of the body. Nine floated over to me. "Eleven! Where have you been? The situation has gotten worse. They're bringing her to a place called the Candy Kingdom! They have no experience with this stuff, she's going to die if we don't get her the proper medical attention," he said. I looked at her and had a flashback to a very old memory of my past life, about someone that I cared for. I reached for the Ace of Spades and fired it in the air. The crowd ducked, I walked by them. A banana dude tried to stop me, so I punched him in the face instantly bruising. I hoisted up the flame princess in my arms and turned to Nine. "Nine, bring the ship around, we're going to the City," I said. He nodded and within a few moments. A small fighter jet from the year 2531 flew overhead. The wings were the ship were uneven, artillery turrets covered the hull and wings, a seven engine rocket at the starboard end, and coloured a deathly black with a miscellaneous collection of war insignias (spaceship tattoos in other words.) It flew over the crowd of people and transmatted the princess and I in the cockpit. I laid the princess in the co-pilot seat and warped off to the city.
I arrived at the wall and sped past it. My radio sparked to life, a voice spoke from it
"Guardian craft this is tower post 5, identify your ship code, over."
"This G-11 O896A1, over."
"Why have you passed the designated transmat point? Over"
"I have a wounded soul onboard, I'm bringing her to the nearest hospital, over."
"Repeat please, did you say that you have a wounded soul, over?"
"Yes! I need a hospital now! She's been shot by a modified Black Spindle!"
"Okay, the nearest health center is to your left, over,"
"Thanks, bye," I said hanging up.
I picked up the weakened princess and transmatted to the hospital entrance. "Help, I need help!" I yelled. A mortal doctor walked by and saw me with the unconscious princess. "Oh my God! What happened?" she asked, "Got shot by a modified Black Spindle," I said "Oh my, come with me," she said. We rushed through the doors. "Help, we-" "Screw signing in, need a room now!" I said and blinked into all the rooms in the hospital, some not being so welcoming (you don't want to know.) I teleported into an empty room and laid the princess down. She started to open her eyes and looked at me. "Wh-who are you?" she asked me "I'm the guy that's not going to let you down." I smiled underneath my helmet. I locked the doors and took off the piece of armour that covered the wound, and ripped the clothing that covered the wound in two. I looked at it, and the veins have spread since the ambulance, it has spread to her hips and breasts. I knew that no medicine in the world could stop it, not even the Traveler's light. I knew what I had to do. I took off my glove and put on the philosopher's gauntlet. I let it consume me. When I opened my eyes, I could see everything, from the past, present, and future. I looked down at the wound and stretched out my hand letting a red hue emit from the gauntlet stopping the flow of time in the wound causing it to stop spreading. I reached into the wound and felt the surroundings until I found the bullet. I wrapped my mind around it and started to pull it out. The princess screamed in pain, I stopped and looked at her and took off my helmet. "Hi, hey, listen to me, you need to take your mind off of the wound. What do you want to talk about?" I asked her, "What's your name?" she asked, "My name is Dylan, what's your name?" I said "I already told you," she mumbled "No silly, I mean your real name, like your first name," I said, she groaned "Ph-Ph," she stammered "What?" I asked, worried for her "Phoebe, my name is Phoebe," she said "Okay Phoebe, I'm going to take out this bullet in you, and it's going to hurt a bit, if you want to hold my hand if you want you can, just wanted to tell you that," I said, "O-okay." she said. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. With that said, I slowly eased the bullet out of her sternum the bullet out. She wretched in pain and squeezed my hand so hard she drew blood. Soon a small sharp cylinder floated up into my hand and dropped into my palm. I looked at it and disintegrated it to dust. I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked at her and smiled at her. She smiled back for a moment, she started to shake violently, I panicked.
"Nine! What's happening to her?" I asked
"She appears to have a punctured kidney. She will die in fifteen minutes," he said sadly
I looked down at her. She stared into my eyes with fear. I said to myself not again, you will not take another again. I looked at him and asked.
"Which kidney is it?"
"Uh, the right one why do you ask?" he said. I took off my chest armour and undershirt, unsheathed my knife, wiped off the remaining blood from it, and drenched it in hand sanitizer.
"Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" he asked looking at my chest.
"Am I able to regenerate organs?" I asked
"Um, what kind of question is tha - oh, oh no, no, hell no!" Nine
"Nine, calm down," I said
"No, your not!" he said
I grabbed him and stared him in the eye. "Nine! Can I regenerate organs or not!" I yelled
He hesitated for a long time before he said:
"I don't know,"
"Fair enough for me," I said
"Dylan, don't do this. Think about Aubrey," he said
I grabbed him again and stared him straight in the eye.
"Never, Ever, Say her name again! And I am thinking about her," I said and stabbed myself. I jerked in pain, blood squirted out of my side, I reached inside and grabbed my kidney and thought so that's what my kidney feels like. I made an X over the hole in my stomach symbolizing where my kidney was. I was starting to see black spots in my sight, I stumbled a bit, whoa hold it together brian, you got a life to save. I stumbled over to the flame princess and looked at Nine and pointed at her
"Kidney, where?" I said weakly
He hovered over to the right and highlighted the bullet hole
"There, that should have been obvious dude," he said
"Cut some slack, I'm bleeding out," I looked at her
"Okay, this is going to hurt me more than its going to hurt you, literally, I'm going to be giving you my kidney," I said
I put her to sleep with a tank of laughing gas I found (I think it was laughing gas.) I slowly pushed my knife into her side. Molten lava spilled out, my knife was slowly melting. I pulled out her defective kidney, and it crumbled in my hand, that I'll never get out of my head. I then cut out my kidney. I gurgled a little blood out of my mouth. When I was holding my own kidney in my hand, I might have just puked out all my other organs because I was so grossed out. I then realized that what would happen when I put my kidney in, it would just burn up into a sizzling ball of burning flesh. I looked at Nine and gurgled some more.
"Kidney ... fireproof," I said
"Um, no, your internal organs aren't fireproof," he said
I frowned. "Idiot ... engineer … not … to burn," I growled
"Oh, you want me to genetically engineer your kidney so that it won't burn up when you put it in her," he said.
I nodded
"Okay, I can do that," he said and split apart altering my kidney and its appearance until it matched the kidney that was in the fire princess, but more lively. I nodded at him and looked down at her. She was breathing heavy and raggedly now, I opened up the hole and then placed my kidney in her and mended the arteries together with liquid nitrogen. Soon the cut healed and she returned to normal. I smiled, and collapsed to the floor and looked at the ceiling. The floor was getting hot and sticky underneath me, my senses started to dull, and I started to think back to the year 1979 ... oh what a great year that was for me.
"Thinking about them again?" asked Nine
"Get out of my head little light," I thought
"Okay, but just to let you know, that when you removed your kidney it caused massive damage to you. it's going to take a while to repair," he said
"Alright, see you in a while," I thought
I heard the door get knocked down. I managed to look up a little and saw a bunch of doctors, police, two guardians that I know, Chris and Zack, and the vanguard walk in. Zavala slipped in a puddle of my blood causing Cayde to laugh at him hysterically.
"Sorry, I'll clean that up later, just as soon as everything stops spinning," I said
I heard him faintly cursing and yelling at me, but I passed out from the pain and blood loss.
FP's POV
When I woke up I was in a gown of aluminum foil. I sat up causing the gown to crumple. I rubbed the fatigue out of my eyes and saw a bunch of people running around saying things like, she's up! Vitals are stable. we're going to need another gown or two.
I looked to my side and saw the man that saved me. I looked down and saw that the wound had healed. I went to get up but my legs gave out. I fell on the cold marble floor hearing the people around me getting into a tussle. I looked up at the man named Eleven and went to touch him, but his kin turn to a crimson burn went my hand came near. He's human?
"We're here, what's up?" said a man covered in shining armour along with another matching his get up.
"The fire elemental has awoken and is trying to make contact with the criminal guardian," said a man who looked to be a doctor.
"Alrighty then, mizz you're going to need to get back in bed," said one of the armoured men.
I tried to get back in bed but my stems wouldn't work. I looked back up to them distressed and they started to advance on me. I tried my best to make myself get up but my legs wouldn't work. They grabbed the pit of my arms and hoisted me up. I tried to free myself from their grasps but their grip was strong on me. I kicked and screamed hoping to irritate them enough to let me go, like in that old human show that Finn showed me one movie night. What was it called? Strange ... Stranger ... I don't know.
"GUARDIANS!" said a deep voice
The large men looked behind them and saw another big man like them. He was clad in bulky silver armour with a two-headed eagle crest on his chest, he had a red jumpsuit underneath his armour, and had pale blue skin like Ice King. He approached them with a stoic expression on his face. he faced them and crossed his arms behind his back and stared at them for a solid minute.
"What may I ask you are doing to our guest?" questioned the blue man
"She fell out of bed so we were going to help her back up," said the one on the left
"Is that so?" the blue man asked
"Ye-"
"NO!" I said
"Really," said the blue man
"Yes, I tried to touch the man who saved my life," I exclaimed
"Well, now I can understand my titan's actions. This hunter is a criminal, he had broken three crimes getting you here," said the blue man
"What?" I exclaimed
"Yes, this hunter is extremely unstable-"
"Zavala." said a robotic voice that sounded like BMO, but deeper.
The blue man who I think is named Zavala, turned around to reveal a blue robot. He had a horn on his forehead, he wore leather survivalist jacket with spades imprinted under his shoulder plates, he had yellow shin pads, and a black tattered cape and hood with red markings printed on the right side of it.
"If I do recall, that is not how you treat a lady," said the unicorn robot
"Cayde, what do you know about treating a woman?" asked a robed human woman with brown skin and a shaved head
"I know a few things here and there about treating a lady," said the unicorn robot sounding pretty proud of himself, "Sorry about my blue bald friend here, he is a little strict. Cayde 6, Hunter Vanguard, at your service milady," said Cayde bowing in a dorkish way.
"Um, thanks?" I said unsure of what to say
"Your welcome. So I assume that you might not like being restraint by two strong titans, am I right, I'm right aren't I," he said sounding like a child
"Uh, sure."
"Come on guys, put the flaming woman down," said Cayde
Instantly the two titans (I assume that's what they're called) set me down gently on the bed and stood behind the one called Zavala.
"So, what's your name ma'am?" asked Cayde
"Flame Princess," I said
"Well Flame Princess, mind if you tell us what happened to my favourite hunter and best friend?" asked Cayde
I looked over at the unconscious Eleven, breathing heavily. He doesn't even know me and he gave me a part of him to save my life, he reminds me a bit about Finn. "I remember attending the annual princess day gathering at the Breakfast Kingdom this year, my first time going," I said, "Wait ... did you just say breakfast kingdom?" said Cayde, "Uh, yes ... why" I asked, "I need to get out of this Tower. Continue please." said Cayde, "Well as I was saying, I was at the Breakfast Kingdom. Then Eleven burst in and announced the problem at hand," I said, "Yeah that's Eleven for ya," said Cayde, "So we told him that he could stick around if he didn't cause any trouble, and the last thing I remember is him taking out his gun yelling for us to get down then." I stopped remembering bits of the events that happened after that. The immense pain screaming from my kidney, Cinnamon Bun holding my hand while that little ball of light hovered over me, the Banana guards escorting me to the ambulance, Eleven yelling at a radio on his ship, him taking out the bullet and telling me his real name. "Then everything after that is blurry," I said, "Thank you, Flame Princess, that must have been very stressful on your mind," said the bald lady, "Yeah ... it was. wait, how long was I out for?" I asked, "About a few days," said one of the doctors, "Oh buns, I need to get back to my kingdom!" I said and tried to get out of bed only to be stopped by my mind telling me to rest and by Cayde.
"Yeah no can do, you see we pulled some data from Eleven's data banks and found that there was a plot to hurt this guy by killing you and two others ... they have really weird names though," said Cayde
"Cayde," said Zavala
"Fine! I'm just saying. So yeah, we're gonna have to keep ya here for a while till Eleven's up and shoot'in again. Part of his demotion," said Cayde dramatically
"It is not a demotion, it is discipline," said Zavala saying it loud and proud
"Yeah, yeah whatever you say big blue, so let's get you some clothes and I'll give you the grand tour of the place. So does anybody have some sort of non-clunky fireproof clothing?" asked Cayde
"It's fine, I can do that myself," I said and spun in a circle causing the aluminum foil to melt away and replaced by a white T-shirt and a loss pair of orange pants. Cayde and the others just looked at me in amazement (mostly Cayde,) he rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things right. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, I need to learn that trick. Sundance, add that to that list of Things I Need to Learn." said Cayde to himself, "Cayde no," said the bald woman, "Oh come maan Ikora! that'd be so cool to learn. like think of it, usual get up, thinking of summer, spin, BOOM! Ya'r set for the Bahamas baby!" exclaimed Cayde, "Soo ... the tour?" I asked, "Right, this way amigo! on to the Ramen shop!" he said cheerfully, "Cayde!" said Zavala and Ikora, "come on, the Ramen shop is always the first stop in the tour!" said Cayde. I caught up to the unicorn robot and asked, "So are you always like this?" "No, normally I'm more hyper than this. Well, there are those days when Zalava wants me to write up like a million field reports, man that's such a pain in the ass," said Cayde
Later...
I never knew that there could be something greater than coal and hot sauce, I was wrong, this ramen hits the spot! Those fresh golden noodles swimming in that rich flavorful broth the combination of salt and spice-OH. MY. GLOB-it just to die for. And those little squishy ball things that have some sort of meat in them, I can't describe it without sounding like Cayde, W-O-W call me a murphy's uncle and lay me to rest (I think I said it right.) when I took the first taste I couldn't stop myself it was so good. Everyone kept on looking at me like I was a savage, or for the fact that they have never seen a fire elemental before. Cayde looked at me with a proud grin stretched across his face as he watched me eat. I finished the bowl of ramen in two minutes while Cayde took his time using what he called chopsticks to eat his ramen.
he introduced me to all of the people in the Tower, they seemed nice. the one that was named Xur seemed a little ... off. And the cult called New Monarchy, Glob I can't stand them, always saying that they can make the City better without guardians, I don't understand why some people despise the ones that have given their lives to protect them from danger. when the tour was over Cayde showed to a place that I could sleep (meaning that the entire place was covered from head to toe in aluminum foil.) I have to say, if I could go back to the Tower again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
3 Weeks Later …
I woke up in a hospital bed. I looked around and saw that I was hooked up to a bunch of machines. I looked down at my gut and saw stitches in the huge cut I made when I decided to play doctor.
"Nine," I said
"No, you don't have a mechanical kidney in you, your still 100% natural. And the flame princess is still alive because of you, did quite the selfless act there," he said
"Sigh, thank God. hey, how long have I been out?" I asked
"About three weeks," said Nine
"Pft, say what!" I yelled
"Dude, you literally did surgery on yourself, it was expected that you were going to be out way longer than the flame princess," he said
"Oh, yeah how is she?" I asked
"She's good. Fully recovered, been visiting you while you've been out,"
"Well, that's embarrassing. How much life wreaking things did I do while I was asleep?"
"Nothing really, just drool a lot. Wait, no, that was just some excess blood you were still gurgling," he said
"That's all?" I said
"Yep, that's all. Oh, also Zavala wants to talk to you. Apparently, you've committed three crimes when getting into the hospital, and pissed him off when he slipped in your blood." he said
I slammed my pillow into my face and groaned into it. "Couldn't this day get any worse?" I said.
Sure enough, it did. After I got back in my regular attire, I reported to the hall of guardians to have a very long talk about the honour of guardians and my punishment, which I really didn't want to talk about. When I got there I saw the Vanguard gathered, along with the young flame princess. I took a deep breath in and approached the Vanguard.
"Vanguard, Flame Princess." I bowed my head to them.
"It is apparently Flame Queen, guardian," said Zavala
"Apologies, Flame Queen." I corrected
"Guardian," she said with a smile
"You understand why you here," said the titan
"Yes. I understand that I'm here for saving a life, and losing a kidney," I said
"Eleven, not the time for jokes, you need to wait for the right time to drop it," said Cayde 6
"Really, you're seriously giving me a lecture on timing for jokes. Dude you have horrible timing, Ikora even said that at your funeral," I said
"Seriously, you said that at my funeral, when I wasn't around to hear it?" exclaimed Cayde
"Cayde, another time please," said Zavala, "Guardian, you have caused a great amount of trouble on this assignment,"
"Punishment, it was punishment." I corrected
"Eleven," said Nine
"Guardian Eleven, you are hereby stripped of your free-will, your honour, and your title as a hunter," said the titan. I felt like my soul was just reaped from my body, I was no longer known as a hunter. I felt like throttling the old titan and beating him until he gave me back my dignity.
"But, not entirely. Right?" said Cayde
Now I want to throttle him even more.
"What do you mean, not entirely?" I snapped
"We have examined the plans that you and your ghost found in the thief's hideout. It appears that assassinating the Flame Queen was only the first step in a massive plot against a man named Finn Mertens," said Ikora
"Wait. Did you say Finn?" asked the fire queen
"Yes, does the name sound familiar to you?" asked the warlock
"Finn Mertens is my ex," she said. The room went silent, for only a millisecond.
"Awkward," said Cayde breaking the silence
"We have managed to decrypt the rest of the plan, salvaging what we could from the damage from your … tantrum," said Zavala
"Can it papa smurf," I said
"What we're getting at is that the plan was meant to hurt this dude mentally by killing all the people that he held close to him, and then kill him after. So we've secured all the other suspected victims at risk but are short one guard for you know who." Cayde motioned to the fire queen.
"So my punishment is guarding her." I said, "That doesn't sound so bad."
"You're going to be her personal bodyguard hunter. That means whatever she says, its law," said Zavala
My head was flooded my a million nightmares. I saved her, and now I have to be her personal boot kisser, I should've just let her died.
"Okay, so I'm going to assume that since your the queen of fire, that your kingdom is made entirely of fire and if I step foot inside, I'll burn to death. Didn't think of that wise guy?" I said to Zavala.
"You have your Iron armour, it's fireproof, you better get used to it, because you're going to be there for a looong time," said Cayde.
Later …
"After you, your majesty," I said offering my hand to the young queen with a hint of sarcasm hidden in my tone. She took it and said, "Thank you," I was cursing in my mind about how much I hated this new assignment. I should be out shooting taken, protecting the City, eating ramen noodles. She got in the co-pilot seat. "So, how fast can this thing go?" she asked, I looked back "In a hurry?" I smirked, "Uh, yeah, those guys urged me to stay here for three weeks waiting for you to wake up," she explained, "Okay then. Nine, plot course for the Fire Kingdom, warp speed," I said, "Dude, you remember what I said about using the warp drive in non-vacuum situations," he said, "Can it, I want to get this over with," I said, "Okay, but if I die from your stupidity, I'm going to be very unhappy," he said
"Uh, what's warp speed?" asked the flame princess, "Oh, you'll find out right ... now," I said as all around us turned blue and orange streaks.
The g-force lasted for a second, but you could still feel the whiplash. When we dropped out of warp speed, everything was on fire and surrounded by lava. It reminded me of the time of when Nine found me inside of that burning building in Old Russia. I set down a few miles away from a volcano, I looked around to see where we were going.
"So … where is your castle?" I asked
"It should be over there, ah," she stumbled a bit while getting out of the ship.
"Sorry. You okay?" I asked
"Yeah, I'm good," she said. I had a sneaking suspicion that she didn't fully recover from the bullet wound, and the surgery. Neither did I.
"You didn't fully recover did you," I asked
"What? No! Of course, I recovered!" she said rubbing her side.
"BS! Your lying, it's laced in your voice. You just want to get back to your kingdom and rule," I said
"I order you to shut up," she said
"I hate you," I said
"Come now guardian, I need to get to my kingdom," she said
"Don't let this ordering me around thing get to your head. In a few years, I'm outta here." I growled
"I order you to slap yourself," I slapped myself, I knew then it was going to be a horrible three years.
Back in the present …
"And there you have it, the story of how we meet," I said, "The end."
"What? That was horrible!" said Jake
"You gave my sister your kidney?" yelled Flint
"I'm going to barf!" said Starchy
"You make it sound like you were going through the Night-O-Sphere," joked Flame Princess
"Because it was at the time," I said
Finn was mortified by the tale I told. Big blue glowing eyes looking at me saying, you did what!
"seriously, that isn't the end of it ... right?" said Jake
"That's the end, Jake. I became a bodyguard, we became friends, and I returned to the City. The End." I said
"You only told the story up to the part where you got to the Fire Kingdom. You said that you hated the job, but now you two are two peas in a pod," he said
"We are not two peas in a pod, just friends," I said
"Okay sure. Then tell us the rest of the story," Jake said
"What?" I said
"Tell us the rest of it now!" he said and stretched his hand three sizes bigger.
"Okay fine, fine I'll tell more,"
The Fire Kingdom, 6 years ago…
We approached the gates. I was supporting the young queen under her arm all the way to her castle. Two guards approached us with flaming spears in hand. "The queen! The queen is alive!" they shouted. They shoved me to the ground and took the queen. "Stay down outsider." said one of the guards pointing their spear at my throat. "Outsider? I'm the one who saved her live you no good piece of -" I was about to unsheath my knife when the flame princess yelled, "Stop!" the guard withdraw his spear and looked at the queen, "My queen? Why do you spare this outsider? He kidnapped you." said the guard, "He saved my life, and he is my bodyguard. So stand down, now!" she shouted. The guard bowed "Yes my queen." he looked at me and offered his hand, "Apologies outsider." he said. I swatted his hand aside and got up, I walked alongside the queen. I looked at the doors and asked: "Now how do these things open?" I asked. She snapped her fingers and the doors opened, "Oh."
We proceed to the throne room, it was quite the set up she had. The people greeted her with hugs and tears of lava, while all I got was a bunch of weird looks and whispers. The princess took a seat on her throne while I stood beside her. I then saw the life-size cinnamon bun running towards the princess. I was about to draw Ace when Nine said to me,
"Remember at the Princess Day event, he was there with her. I found out that he's her champion,"
"Wow, and what am I, a close second," I thought
"Maybe," Nine said with an obvious taunting in his voice
"I hate you," I thought
"Princess!" exclaimed the cinnamon bun with his arms stretched out for a hug.
"Cinnamon Bun!" said Flame Princess with joy overflowing from her voice
She stood up from her throne gripping her side and hugged the living cinnamon bun.
"I thought you were dead, or worse!" said Cinnamon Bune (seriously, a living cinnamon bun named Cinnamon Bun ... how original can you get! sarcasm intended)
"Don't worry, I'm fine CB. If it wasn't for this man here, I would be dead," said Flame Princess
The cinnamon bun looked at me with questionable eyes. he approached me with a firm posture and stood in front of me for a good thirty seconds of silence. "You're the one that interrupted the annual Princess Day gathering at the Breakfast Kingdom," said the cinnamon bun, "Yes, that was me," I said waiting for the cinnamon bun yelling at me saying that I brought this danger upon this princess. But what he did next truly surprised me. He put out his hands and smiled at me, "Thank you for being there. If it wasn't for you, our princess would be dead, or worse," said the cinnamon bun.
"What could be worse than death?" I exclaimed in my mind
"Purgatory," said Nine
"True," I thought
"just doing my job," I said shaking the cinnamon bun's hand, "my name is Cinnamon Bun by the way," said Cinnamon Bun, "Guardian Eleven," I said. we broke off the handshake and stood at each side of the princess's throne and the people cheered, then resumed their daily business, from my observation, being a bunch of dingos.
"Also, Dylan, was it?" she whispered
"Yes, my queen?" I said
"I just wanted to thank you for saving me. What you did was very dumb you could have died," she said
"Wow, so is that what the story is going to be called now? Saved by the dumbass guardian," I grumbled
"But you put aside the risk that you could die to save me, a complete stranger. Why would you do that?" she said
Well scratch that last part, that was pretty nice. I thought back to the year 1987. Before the Traveler came. When I was happy, when I had a family, when I had her, when I had them. I shook that memory aside and said.
"It was the right thing to do. Guardians are to protect humanity, but I protect all living things,"
Her cheeks glowed red and she looked away.
"Uh, my queen," I said
"Yes?"
"Permission to speak freely," I asked
"Uh, sure."
"Could you not use my real name please, its … been a while since I used it. It feels weird using it again after one thousand years." I said
"Wow! You haven't used your real name in a thousand years, your a thousand years old?" she exclaimed
"Technically six thousand years old, but who's counting. So, if you wouldn't mind …" I said
"Uh, okay. I won't use your real name. But what do I call you then?" she asked
"Eleven, Guardian Eleven," I said
"Okay, El," she said
"Don't call me that," I said
Later that night …
FP's POV
I couldn't get to sleep. I thought of me dying kept haunting me. All those things that I wanted to say, wanted to do. To tell Finn thank you for helping me retake my throne, that I might have considered giving him a second chance, to tell Guardian Eleven to not take out my kidney, to know about where I was and that huge white ball in the sky, and who everyone was, and how was there other humans and smurf people. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get something to eat. When I got there, the chef was snoring on the counter mumbling about blueberries. I took a sandwich out of a tin foil wrapping and took a bite out of it. That settled my nerves a bit. I walked down the hall, it was quiet, nice and quiet. As I passed Guardian Eleven's room heard a strange sound. I opened to door and he wasn't in sight. Over the last few hours, he managed to trash his new room. There were magazines everywhere with guns on the covers, his bed was unmade, clothes and armour pieces scattered on the floor, and there were capes hanging from everything that could be used as a hook. The window was open, I looked out of it and saw the vast horizon of the Fire Kingdom. Then I heard a faint humming coming from above, I looked up and saw an orange triangle falling towards me. It hit me in the forehead and burned up. It felt weird and spicy. I climbed up the wall and saw a human looking at a book and with a red bag and a pack of green bottles next to him with a weird hat on his head. I walked towards him and saw what he was doing.
He had a journal in his hands and was writing something:
I can't believe that old titan! Being an ass to me because I'm Cayde's favourite, denying me permission to visit Sleepy Hollow to visit my family's resting place, taking away my tank, and refusing to avenge Cayde's death I can kinda understand (well not for avenging Cayde is not understandable.) But this time. Oh, this time he took it too far this time. When I get back to the city, mark my words, I'll give him something that he'll never forget! But on the other hand, it's kinda nice here in the Fire Kingdom. This girl that I helped, she reminds me about Aubrey, what she would have been if she made it to 13 years old. Everytime I look at her, I see her face. I don't know the cause of this, the anniversary was only a week ago, and I settled my rage, why is this happening? Maybe I should just tell her how I feel? Probably this is a blessing in disguise? Now I'm sounding like my mother. God help me if I do.
Journal entry #9,996
"Who's Aubrey?" I asked
"AAAAHHHH!" screamed Guardian Eleven. He jumped a foot off the ground and looked at me.
"Jumpin dyins! Don't you know that you don't sneak up on someone writing their feeling down?" he yelled
"Sorry, just couldn't sleep," I said
"Have you tried warm milk?" he said
"What?" I said
"You don't know what warm milk is?" he said
"No, I don't even know what milk is," I said
"We have much to discuss," he laughed
"So what are you writing?" I asked
"Nothing," he said
"Seriously though, what is it?" I asked
"That's none of your business," he mumbled
"Um, I don't think you know, but Fire Kingdom law states that there are no secrets allowed, complete honesty, so you have to share your secrets," I said
"That is not right, people have a right to keep somethings to themselves, so no I will not oblige my secrets," he said
"I order you to share them," I said
"That is an order that I cannot follow," he said
"Guardian, I order you to show me what you have, or I will contact Zavala if you do not comply," I said
"You don't even know how to contact him," he chuckled darkly
"Vanguard frequency 0789, access code 0.011," I said
He was silent for a moment, looking flabberghasted that I knew his access codes and the private Vanguard channel.
"how do you know the private Vanguard channel? and how did you know my access codes?" he stammered
"Nine," I said
"Nine, tomorrow ... you're wearing the sign," he growled
"So ... should I contact him?" I asked him darkly
He muttered something under his breath. "Fine, have a seat," he patted the ground next to him. I sat down next to him and looked at the pages of the book.
"Why is everything confusing. These journal entries, sketches, and pictures of strange people," I asked
"Those strange people are my friends and family," he said
"Are they still around?" I asked. He bowed his head and shut his eyes as a silent tear fell to the ground.
"Sadly no, they died a long time ago, the only friend that is still alive is my friend Reaper."
"Reaper? What kind of name is that?" I asked
"That kind of name that you give yourself when you don't want to remember," he said
"Oh," I said. I looked more through the book and on photo caught my eye. Of Eleven with his helmet off and with a little girl on his back laughing with a beautiful woman next to him smiling. In a way, the little girl looked like me, but younger.
"So you're a human," I said
"Yeah, and so is your ex." he retorted
"Gasp, how dare you use that," I said
"No secrets, remember," he smirked
I turned my attention back to the photo.
"Who is she? I asked
Eleven hesitated when I asked, he took a deep breath.
"That's my little angel, Aubrey,'
"Aubrey, was she your daughter?" I asked
"Yes,"
"Is she dead?"
"Yes,"
"Who is that older woman?" I asked
"My wife," he said
"What is her name?" I asked
"I ... I can't remember," he said
"Is she dead too?" I said
"Yes," he said
"I'm sorry, how did it happen?" I asked
"Sniff, please don't make me relive that moment. Please," he said. This time he was actually crying, streams of tear water flowing down his cheeks. I could tell that their deaths were really hard to talk about.
"Okay, you don't need to tell me that secret," I said patting his back
"Thank you flame queen," he said wiping the tears away.
"Your welcome, and call me Phoebe." I said
"Thank you Phoebe, and ... call me Dylan." he hugged me.
I didn't know what to make of it. he did not look the hugging kind of guy. I gently wrapped my arms around him returning the hug. this might not be a bad three years for him.
A Few Weeks Later …
Guardian Eleven's POV
I was running low on human food. I only had a few bags of Doritos left, and two cases of Mountain Dew. I needed to eat. I was standing next to Phoebe that day. I swear, if I have to stand her for another freaking hour, I'm going to become a statue. I thought that I could make more of a statement to those who were plotting to assassinate her if I had my Iron Battle ax out, raging with the flames of my fallen brethren and my wife. A fire being then walked up to the throne with a microwave in hand.
"Um hi, my microwave is broken. And I don't know how to fix it," he said
"Ugh, for the last time, I don't know how to fix a microwave!" Phoebe exclaimed
"Aw, but all I want is to heat up my food again," he moaned
"Uh dude, you're literally surrounded by fire, just dangle your food over a geyser or something, I don't know?" she said
"But it not the same," he bowed his head
"You know what, let me at that thing," I said
"What? You can fix it?" he said
"Pft, not me, Nine can," I said
"Who's Nine?" said the fire being
"My ghost," I said as Nine materialized in front of me.
"Hel-hello gorgeous, what is your name," said Nine hovering down to the microwave doing the best to do an imaginary eyebrow pumping.
"Dude, seriously. What did we talk about," I said
"Stop flirting with kitchen appliances," he moaned
"Exactly, it's super weird, and that's saying something coming from me," I said
"I know. So what do you want me to do?" he asked
"Scan the thing for any problems," I said
"Okay," he shot a bunch of blue light at the microwave and looked at me.
"The light bulb is broken," he said
"What? That's all?" exclaimed Phoebe
"Yep," said Nine
"Hooray!" said the fire being picking up his microwave and running out the door.
"Thank you!" he waved
Phoebe slumped back in her throne and sighed.
"What's wrong by?" I asked
"Uh, I'm just tired, and hungry," she said as a low growl came from her stomach.
"Same. Lunch break?" I asked
"I couldn't agree more," she said
We went to a fancy restaurant "The Fancy Coal" I thought she meant going to a restaurant where they actually served food, but as the old saying goes. When life gives you lemons, call them yellow oranges, and sell them for double the price. She ordered a platter of coals, and I thought I would give a molten soup palter a try.
"You know that's lava, right?" she said
"Yeah," I said
"So you will probably burn your throat," she said
"Well, I'm running low on human food, so I'm going to venture into new waters," I smiled
"Really?" she said
"Come on, what's the worst that can happen?"
EVERYTHING
I burned everything from my mouth to my stomach. I was back in my room with an ice pack in my mouth, while Nine was engineering my digestive system to be heat resistant to fire, and healing my vocal cords. Phoebe walked into the room with one of her servants with a tray of ice packs. She sat down and watched as the servant tended to my mouth burns. "I told you that it'll burn your throat up," she said. I waved my hands in the ancient language of ASL (American Sign Language.) Well, I was running out of human food, so I was desperate! I signed, "What?" she asked looking at my hand signals "Ugh, he's using ASL again," groaned Nine. it a very useful language. "So what's he saying?" asked Phoebe, "He said that it's a very useful language, but that last gesture wasn't sign language," he said. I signed some more signs "Huh?" "He just said that the top side of this is that you can't tell if he's, oh wow, that's just, wow," "What?" "Let's just say some signs are best left unread." Nine said and disappeared. "Well, I still have a kingdom to run, so heal up," she said and left the room." What! No! Wait! I signed.
"Dude, you need to heal, no one knows sign language anymore," said Nine
"Yes, they do." I thought
"Get some sleep you big baby," he said
"You go to sleep little light," I said
"Don't, just, don't."
Later that night…
I was woken by a faint scream. I jumped out of bed and tried to say what was that, but ended coughing up a chunk of asphalt. As much as I was confused by how asphalt got in my throat, I was more confused by who would scream at three AM in the morning. I got out of bed and walked down the hallway and saw three shadows. One was flailing its arms, while the other two looked like they had fish bowls for heads. I followed the shadows, they led outside the castle, to the border of the Fire Kingdom, to the grasslands, to a cave. I looked inside and saw Phoebe tied up in chains with two other fire people.
"What should we do with her?" asked one
"We're going to kill her you imbecccile," said the other
"Who are you?" said Phoebe
"Don't you recognize us cousssin?" said the one with the hissing voice
"Where your cousins," said the other, as they both took off their helmets.
"Furnius and Torcho!" she gasped, "But, you're supposed to be dead!" she said
"We were, but we were brought back by an unnamed friend, he sssaid that he would let usss be apart of is risssing empire if we kill the flame queen,"
"And here we are, any last wishes cousin?" said one as he raised a knife.
"How about I do the talking for this one, okay?" said Nine in my head
"Eh what the hell, go for it. but if you die, I'm not paying for your debts," I thought
"What debts?" said Nine
"Cayde," I thought
"Oh right. Well too bad," he said
I sprang into action and shot the knife out of his hand. "Argh!" he yelled, "What the" he turned around "Leave her alone!" yelled Nine
"What? Nine, Eleven what the heck are you guys doing here?" Phoebe said
"Or what?" said one of them
"Or my friend here is going to feed your ass to the thrall!" yelled Nine
"You are learning small one," I thought
"Oh, we're soo scaared, what's even a thrall?" taunted the one that seemed normal
"probably sssome sssort of wannabe hero like thiss chum," laughed the one with the hissing voice
"Eleven ... sic em," said Nine
"Took the sentence right out of my mind," I thought and charged at full speed at the fire idiots
I jumped in the air and threw a barrage of red-hot knives into the fire being with the hissing voice leg making him drop down. as I landed I delivered a successful round-house kick to the side of his head knocking him out. "Brother! you'll pay for that!" yelled the other one. I turned to deal with him when I saw that his hands had turned into blades and coming down on me fast. I caught his wrists in the nick of time before he spit my skull in two. I tried to force his arms back but he was too strong for me. it reminded me of all of the times when I was losing to Reaper in an arm wrestling battle. His flames started to increase and his features turning more monstrous. My hands were burning against his flaming skin. He was pushing me down to my knees as he melted my hands off.
"Nine! I need an arc blade NOW!" I screamed in my head
"I'm sorry Dylan, but you used half of your light on that miniature blade barrage, and that light enhanced round-house kick. you'll be at full charge in two minutes," said Nine
"Nine! I won't have hands in two minutes, I need an arc blade NOW!"
I screamed as the intensifying flames melted through my shields and through my armour and soon through my flesh. I screamed in agony as my hands burned. "NO!" screamed Phoebe still chained to the floor, weeping tears of magma seeing me getting my ass beat, "witness dear cousin, the fate of all of those who decide to follow you, or protect you, or to worship you, or to love you," he said savouring that last line, like it was a sweet treat he was tasting in his mouth. I felt that her ex was given a similar fate like this and this guy was being a dick using that to his advantage to increase her suffering. this fueled me some giving me the strength to match this douches strength with whatever strength I had in me. I pushed back getting back on my feet staring straight in his face.
"Nine. take off my helmet, I want this guy to see my face when I beat him," I thought
Before Nine could dematerialize my helmet the guy kicked me in the balls, bringing me back to my knees and in more pain than before.
"Fu-" I croaked
"You sure about that?" said Nine
"Now die Eleven," grinned the guy
I heard Phoebe crying in the corner. I couldn't imagine what she was going through, she told me that her father had imprisoned her for most of her life until a dude saved her saved her from him (another one of those hippy-dippy princes saving the princess crap love stories again,) then she broke up with him and overthrew her father and tried to make the Fire Kingdom a non-evil kingdom in Ooo. But I guess some fire people aren't so willing to be good. she raised her head at the other guy revealing her saddened face. magma tears streaming down her face and her eyes glowing a bloody red colour.
"Well, that's new. You think it's good or bad?" asked Nine
"Bad, definitely bad," I thought
"Leave. My. Friend. ALONE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and a beam of red light came shooting out of the gemstone adorn on her forehead blasting both the guy and I. I was knocked away from him and landed on my rear stunned for a second. when I looked up I saw the other guy getting back up too. Phoebe yelled at me, "Eleven, get up, he's almost recovered!" I snapped back to the task at hand and launched myself off the ground and charged at the guy. he must have heard Phoebe too back he clumsily scrambled back to his feet to resume our fight.
I unsheathed my knife and aimed to stab him in the jugular gifting me a swift end to this fight. but to my dismay, he parried my attack stance his left arm at a ninety-degree angle connecting with my wrist then grabbing hold of it and squeezing me till I dropped the knife. when it hit the floor he kicked it away. I punched him in the nose with enough velocity to break it, then clapping my hands hard on the sides of his head stunning his senses. He stumbled backwards giving me the upper hand. I drove two sidekicks into his upper and lower left ribs cracking them, then hooking my right foot behind his knee and pulling him out of his locked stance bringing him to the ground.
"Nine, Battleaxe, NOW!" I screamed mentally
(now imagine this in slow-mo, okay can you do that? Good) As the flaming majestic weapon materialized in my hands. I spun in a three sixty to gain velocity on the final blow I was about to deliver to this punk. as I was turning back around with the Iron ax almost fully formed, I swung downwards with all of my might splitting the head of this fiery SOB in half (okay you can stop the slow motion thing now.)
I pulled the ax head out of the dead corpse of my foe and my friend's captor. I rested the pole of the battle ax on my shoulder and looked at Phoebe signing, Really?
"What? Nine," she said
When Nine appeared he translated my sign language, "He said really. And also for me ... really?" he exclaimed
"What?" she asked
"You were chained to the ground, and you could shoot a death ray from your gemstone! why didn't you do that earlier?" he yelled
"I didn't even know that I could that," she said a little shaky
"Oh, right. Eleven, don't leave the lady chained up," Nine joked
"Shut up little light," I thought
"HEY! I told you don't call me that!" grumbled Nine
"Huh? What do you mean not to call you something, he didn't do his sign language thingy," said Flame Princess
"Eleven and I are mentally linked, so we can talk to each other through our minds. Well ... his mind, my mind is a bunch of computer algorithms and space magic," said Nine
"Like telepathy," she said
"Yeah kinda," said Nine
Later …
We returned to the Fire Kingdom and had Furnius's body given a proper royal burial, and Torcho placed in the dungeon for attempted murder and kidnapping of the Flame Queen, he didn't really take the news of his brother's death so well and screaming at us as we left the dungeons of Hell swearing that he will exact his revenge on us making sure that his brother will be avenged. By then I regained my speech and learned my lesson, never try Fire Kingdom food ever again and to never get into an arm wrestling contest with a fire elemental. but then I met Flint and that last part of learning my lesson went down the drain.
3 Years Later …
1:00 a.m
It was time to leave. I have fulfilled my duties for protecting the queen of the Fire Kingdom. It was time to return to the City, time to return to the battlefield. I gathered my supplies and gear and headed to the border of the Fire Kingdom. I snuck out of the castle using a new trick that I taught myself as a Nightstalker, "The way of the Wraith" I turned invisible sneaking through the castle avoiding the guards and then travelled the rest of the way out through the ventilation system. I passed by the guards on duty posted outside and appeared behind a rock.
"Well, one emotional goodbye avoided, off to my ship," I said. I was nearing my ship when I saw a young sixteen-year-old boy walking towards me. He had an ocean blue bear hat, a black tee, bluish-grey skin, fins sticking from the sides of his head arms and legs. He had glowing blue eyes, and razor sharp teeth, gills on the sides of his face, and a tail swaying behind him. I stopped him.
"Um, stop," I said
He looked at me and snarled.
"Outta my way fool, I'm here to visit a friend," he said
I thought to myself that whoever his friend was must have some weird taste.
"Okay, who's your friend?" I asked
"The Flame Queen," he said
"Oh, your friends with Phoebe," I said
"You know her?" he asked
"Yeah, I'm her bodyguard. Well, was her bodyguard until today," I said
"Hm, you're not from around here are you?" he said
"Same for you too boy, what's your name?" I asked then Nine buzzed in my head. "Ow, dude, really?" I said
"What?" asked the fish
"Not you, my ghost," I said
"Your ghost?" he said
"Yeah, this guy," I stretched out my arm and Nine materialized out of a flash of light
"Hello-whoa!" he zipped behind me.
"Uh, sorry about that," I said I turned around to talk to him.
"Nine, what the heck?" I said
"Dude I just got an emergency broadcast from the Tower, on all channels," he said, "Zavala is saying that there's been mass flooding in Ooo, and the guy who's causing it is that guy." Nine motioned to the guy behind me.
I turned around to ask him his name when a powerful blast of pressurized water knocked me back. I looked up and saw the boy charging at me with his swords ready to slice me to pieces. I summoned my arc strider spear and made contact with his swords and sent him flying. I got up and got in a defensive stance and charged at the boy. He got up and sent another powerful blast at me. I blinked left and slashed his Achilles tendon, and hit him in all of the sensitive sections of his body. He screamed in agony and crumpled to the ground. I pointed my spear at him.
"Dude, I just want to know your name," I said
He looked up at me and glared into my eyes and grinned menacingly. "My name is Finn," he said
"Wait ... Finn? You're Phoebe's ex-" I was cut off when he blasted my head off with a powerful blast of water killing me instantly.
When I was revived, the fire kingdom was flooded. I couldn't believe my eyes, steam was coming from the castle. I summon my sparrow and made a beeline to the queen's aid. When I got there, all that remained was extinguished geysers, dead fire people, and flooded roads. I made my way up to the throne room, only to see more remnants of carnage. Dead flame guards everywhere, the throne was smashed to rubble. I bowed my head and took off my helmet and let it drop to the ground. I collapsed to the ground and cried., "I should have said goodbye when I had the chance. Hell, Dylan, what's wrong with you?" I buried my face in my hands. It was Salvation Road all over again. Bodies everywhere, destruction sewed across the land, the presence of death hanging in the air. After a few minutes of emotional sorrow, I got up and went to leave. When I was about to exit the destroyed castle, I heard something crunch under my foot. I moved my foot aside and saw what it was. A small fragment of Phoebe's crown. I picked it up and held it close to my chest and cursed myself for trying to leave without a goodbye. "I'm sorry Phoebe, I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you. here to protect you,"
The Tower …
Don't say goodbye
Cause I don't wanna hear those words tonight
Cause maybe it's not the end for you and I
And although we knew
This time would come for me and you
Don't say anything tonight
If you're gonna say goodbye
That was "Don't Say Goodbye" by Skillet. An old twentieth-century Christian heavy metal/rock band that from what I could tell from the gauntlet, I used to love when I was younger. I was listening to it over and over again since I've left the destroyed Fire Kingdom. I kept on seeing Phoebe in my head, bloody and beaten with her left hand holding her right side putting pressure on an opened wound that was too big to fix without medical attention, and her right hand reached out to me with a face of terror and innocence staring straight into my soul repeatedly saying, "Don't say goodbye. Please don't say goodbye. Please Dylan, ple-" and before I could take my first step towards her. An ocean blue sword would be run through her heart and she would disintegrate revealing that aquatic beast behind her grinning at me viciously and say, "It is your fault that she is dead. Another death of a good friend on your conscience Knight!"
When I made it back to the Tower, I transmatted to the Plaza and made my way to my quarters, trying to keep a low profile. As I made my way through the crowd of guardians and workers. I heard a group of overjoyed voices behind me.
"Hey, is that Eleven?" asked Chris
"It is!" said Zoe
"Hey El, wait up," said Reaper
"Hey, Reaper, why does he look like you when you get back from a mission? All dark and brooding," said Zoe as she acted out an impression of Reaper.
"If you want to keep your spine ... I'd suggest you stop doing that," said Reaper
I turned around and saw the group coming to greet me. "Hey, guys," I said
"Hey man, where've ya been? you've been missing for like, three years. we thought we were going to have to bring out Cayde's Ace of Spades memorial and put your name on it," joked Aaron
"Eat a bag of Alkane Aaron!" shouted Cayde as he was passing through taking a swig from a canteen of what I could guess alcohol.
"What's up with him?" I said trying to sound as casual as I could be.
"He's still upset about All of the things that he had missed when he was dead," said Chris
"So man, where've ya been?" asked Aaron again
I looked down at the shard of FP's crown and grasped it in my hand.
"Uh, just was on a crusade, exploring untouched planets that the Traveler terraformed back during the golden age," I said
"Wow, that's so cool, what are their name'," said Zack
I knew that they were catching on to me, I needed to think of something to throw them off.
"I, can't really remember," I said
"Oh, okay then," Zack said
"Well, yawn, it's been a long three years guys, I'm going to get some sleep," I said
"Okay, see ya later man," said Reaper
"Okay," I said and waved to him.
I got to my room and collapsed in my chair and wiped my face. I took out the crowns fragment and looked at it, I drilled a hole through it and threaded a wire through it, and engraved (In Memory of the Flame Queen, My Friend from Ooo.) And hung it around my neck with my other memories.
The Present …
"And that's how I know Flame Princess," I said
Everyone was lost for words, I guess my story was pretty good to make people lose their words, no one ever likes my stories. "That. Was. Amazing!" said Jake, "Wait, that was Me-Mow that shoot FP with your gun," said Finn, "Man, that titan does not like you," said Starchy, "You thought that we were dead?" said Flint, "Can you tell us more?" asked Jake, "Heh, heh, sorry Jake, but that's all there is." I said, "What? " said Jake, "Yeah, tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us. We need to find a base that we can properly operate from," I said, "We need a place that is also a good distance from this place," I said, "You know of any places?" asked Finn, "Not at the moment, I'll have to sleep on it," I said, "Speaking of sleep, I'm hitting the hay, see you in the morning, Finn," said Jake closing his eyes and falling asleep what seemed instantly, "I'll take first watch," I said and headed out of the cave.
Finn took out a rolled up sleeping bag and rolled it out on the floor of the cave. "Night FP," he said, "Night Finn," she said and slowly fell asleep. almost everyone did, except for Finn. he kept on thinking back to when he went rogue and started the insurrection. he unzipped his jacket and pulled out a knife. but it wasn't like any knife that was seen or made in Ooo, it was a hunter's knife, a knife that belonged to a specific hunter. Guardian Eleven.
"He hates you," said a voice in his head
"Whatever Orc, go back to sleep," whispered Finn to the ancient sea god
"He does, he will take her from you once he remembers what you are," said Ocara
"No, he won't. And what do you mean by remembers me?" asked Finn
"When you first killed him, I made sure he wouldn't remember you fully. I ripped the memory of you from his pathetic skull and cast it away in the depths of his mind. But if he sees you for what you truly are, he will remember and take her from you," said Ocara
Finn was silent for a moment. Afraid of what the sea god said was true.
"Finn? Finn! Finn you bloody human counterpart answer me!" screamed Ocara
"How do I keep him from finding out the truth?" Finn asked
"Well, that's simple ... don't get angry," replied Ocara smugly
"Wow, I thought you said it was simple, not impossible!" Finn whispered loudly
"Huh, wha, who's talking?" mumbled Jake as he was still asleep
"Um, Jake ... you are still asleep, this is your sub-conscience," said Finn in a horrible ghost impression
"Oh, okay good night sub-conscience," said Jake falling back to sleep
"Not getting angry for me is like telling a duengon not to be hard!" whispered Finn
"It is simple, stay on course with your anger management exercises," said Ocara
"But they're so silly and dumb," said Finn
"Well, I guess that you stop your whining and deal with those silly and dumb exercises. You did say that one day you wanted to ... what did you call it? Oh, yes, get with her," said Ocara
Finn grumbled with his mental conversation with his godly side. "ugh, fine. why did I take out this stupid knife anyway?" said Finn
"Well it's because-"
"Rhetorical question dude, not to be answered," growled Finn
"Will you be quiet, people are trying to snipe here!" called out Eleven
"Fine, I'm going to need it to put up with this guy," said Finn putting the knife back in his jacket and closed his eyes welcoming sleep.
I made a sniper's nest outside and loaded my sniper rifle and prepared myself for a long night. I got a bag of Doritos and a small pack of Mountain Dew out and started to survey the landscape. All I could really see was the smouldering remains of the Candy Kingdom (weird place,) and nothing else.
"You fool yourself if you think that you can call that imposter your ally," said an oh-so-familiar voice of that darn metal mit.
"Nine I swear to God if you're doing that friggin imitation of the gauntlet again," I said
"I am not thy one you call Nine Kronos," said the gauntlet
"Oh for the love of, go back to sleep you mitten, a hundred years of sleep isn't enough for you?" I snapped
"Those hundred years of rest was eye-opening Kronos, I now see how far your elemental heritage has fallen from the mantle of the god of Time," said the gauntlet
"Blah blah blah, dude get with the times, it's 3015, every family have fallen from their heritage or whatever you just said," I said
"Not the Kays," it said
"Oh put a sock in it," I said
"The one that calls thy self Finn is a disgraced sea god in disguise," said the gauntlet
"Um, I'm sorry, but if you don't remember, your family tree, the guardians of old has killed Ocara, more time than the amount of time I have died as a guardian of the Traveler, now will you please shut up, people are trying to snipe here," I said
"You only delay thy inevitable, Guardian 111," said the gauntlet
"Okay that does it, go on and shove it!" I said and ripped off the gauntlet and threw it off the mountainside.
"Finally, some peace and quiet," I said
I then heard a high pitch whistling sound and the gauntlet punched me square in the face knocking me back. It fastened itself tightly to my left hand, "We are inseparable Kronos, we are one forever," said the gauntlet
"Why did my ancestor create you. all you do is just piss me off," I said
Later …
FP's POV
I woke up to the sound of a loud humming. I got up and looked around the cave, it wasn't coming from anywhere near me. Flint and my fire was illuminating the cave, keeping the darkness at bay. I then heard the humming again, it was coming from outside of the cave. I followed the sound and found Dylan propped up against a rock with a sniper rifle that brought back some bad memories. I thought for old times sake that I'd scare him. I approached slowly and then leaned forward and said, "Who's Aubrey," and he jumped a foot off the ground. "Jumpin dyins, not again Phoebe." he grumbled, "Heh, brings back memories doesn't it?" I said, "Yep, sure does, just not, well, you know," He motioned to the ruined Candy Kingdom. "Yeah. I can't believe that you thought I was dead," I said, "Well, I was sure you were, I found a piece of your broken crown," he said pulling a necklace from his jacket and dangled it in the air. The piece on the end of it was crowded with rust and was losing its golden polish, "I can't believe you hung on to that thing for six years," I exclaimed, "Of course I held on to this, this was the only physical memory that I had of you, and that you are the only person that I ever told about Aubrey," he said, then the mood got sour.
"Hey what are you listening to?" I asked changing the subject, "Huh, oh just some music from when I was a kid, would you like to listen?" he asked, "Sure." I said. He took off his headphones and put them on my head. The music flowed into my ears. The rhythm was smooth and was great for the moment that we were in.
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people
Jesus music for the people
Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright
Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, everywhere we go
Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright
Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, everywhere we go
Everywhere we go, everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, everywhere we go
Everywhere we go, music for the people makin' music for the people
I was mesmerized by the lyrics, talking about people being the light in the darkness. The next song was a little slower than the one before.
Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
And I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you'll remember me
"Hey Dylan, what's this song called?" I asked. I handed him his music player and he looked at the screen.
"Oh, that's Ed Sheeran, I See Fire came out in a movie called The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug-" he paused in mid-sentence.
"Dylan, you okay?" I asked
"Fire, Mountain," he mumbled
"Okay, you have that look on your face, that means that you've got a crazy idea," I said
"Nope, not crazy, brilliant," he said
"What?" I said
"Phoebe, you're a genius," he said and kissed me on the forehead and went in the cave. I could feel myself blush, it was the first time that he has ever returned the kiss that I gave him six years ago. I followed him into the cave, everyone was up and rubbing their eyes.
"Ugh, dude, what time is it?" asked Jake
"Yeah, sorry, but Phoebe has just reminded me of a great place for a base," Dylan said
"Okay, yawn … where is this place?" asked Finn, with a bad case of bed head.
"We're going to Felwinter Peak," he announced
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