"There are flames that even the Darkness cannot extinguish." - Grimoire of the Sunsinger

Jade sat in silence as the ship sailed through warp space. She could hardly believe everything that had happened back there. I burned that alien...with my bare hand. How is that possible?

"Are you ok?" Delta asked.

Jade glanced over at her Ghost. "I'm fine, just...trying to come to terms with what happened."

"The fact that you're a Sunsinger?"

Jade wasn't sure but she thought Delta sounded kind of proud. "Yeah..."

"Don't worry about that," her Ghost assured, "It happens to every Guardian. Talk to Ikora. She'll help you."

"Thanks, Delta."

"Just doing my job! Speaking of which...we'll be entering atmo in 2 minutes."

Jade nodded. A few minutes later, she and Delta were exiting the Hangar. "Has Fyr landed yet?" Jade asked.

"Not yet, but Spark just told me they're approaching as we speak."

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Fyr came swaggering out of the Hangar. "That was awesome! Sign me up for the next mission!"

"Later," said Spark, "We need to find Bazzle and Kaedro. I'm sure they want to speak with us."

The two Guardians in question were waiting for them on the other side of the plaza, but they were not alone. Another Exo stood with them, clad in purple Titan armor. His eyes were red and his plating was orange with aqua highlights. He also had a horn on his head, like the one Cayde had. He turned to look at them.

"These the ones?"

"Yep, that's them," Kaedro replied.

The other Exo stuck out a hand. "Heya. The name's Rogue-12."

"Jade Wrythal," said Jade, shaking his hand.

"Fyr Allerton," said Fyr as he too shook hands.

Rogue nodded and motioned to a dark gray Ghost that hovered next to him. "This is Cable," he said, "Wanna know why I call 'im that?"

The Ghost sighed, sounding resigned. "Here we go again..."

"He rezzed me in the Cos," said Rogue, "Then these Fallen showed up, tryin' to take me out. Above us, there was this old metal crate suspended by this rusty cable... He cuts the cable, tryin' to kill the Fallen... Crushes me instead and has to rez me a second time." The Exo started laughing. He obviously found the story hilarious.

Bazzle and Kaedro chuckled. Cable sighed again. "Must you always bring that up?"

"Never gets old," said Rogue.

"I'm sure it doesn't."

"Well… This is Spark," said Fyr, "He never dropped a crate on me."

"No matter how much I've wanted to," Spark muttered.

"I'm Delta!" said Delta, "I also haven't dropped any kind of heavy object on my Guardian."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Kaedro joked, "...Anyway, Rogue here just got back from the Crucible."

Rogue nodded. "Showed the punks in there a thing or two."

Jade raised her eyebrows, surprised. "I thought there weren't that many Guardians left."

Rogue laughed. "You kidding? Even three Guardians would be enough for Crucible… There were quite a few in there today."

Bazzle cleared his throat. "Before we stray too far off topic… I believe congratulations are in order. Wrythal and Allerton have just completed their first mission."

"Really?" said Rogue.

"You bet your butt we did!" said Fyr.

Rogue laughed and clapped him on the back. "Well well, looks like your initiation's complete! You ever wanna go Crucible with me, you just let me know."

"Should we report to the Vanguard?" Jade asked. She still wasn't completely sure how the whole 'mission' thing worked. "They'll want to know the Hive are on Earth, right?"

Kaedro nodded. "Yeah. The sooner they know the better."

Bazzle sighed. "I'm afraid reporting to the Vanguard will have to wait. They have requested no interruptions."

Rogue laughed. "Interruptions of what? Their paperwork?"

"Hold on," said Jade, turning her gaze to Bazzle, "You said the Hive were our most pressing concern. If this information is as vital as it sounds, I'm sure the Vanguard will make an exception."

Rogue waved it off. "Eh, I'm sure it can wait… What say we head to the City? Hit up a bar?"

Fyr grinned. "Hell yeah!"

"You guys can," said Kaedro, "The bar isn't really my scene... I think I'm gonna turn in early, get some rest."

"He's just saying that 'cause he got into all those fights back in the day," Rogue told Fyr.

"You're one to talk!" said Kaedro, "You got into twice the fights I did! ...Is there even a bar in the City you're not banned from?"

"Sorry to cut this short," said Spark, "But Jade has a point. The Vanguard should be informed of the Hive's movements. We don't want a repeat of Mare Imbrium."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Rogue spoke up. "Man, your Ghost is a party-killer."

"You're telling me," said Fyr. He sighed. "Still, he's gonna keep bugging me about this so I might as well go."

"Thanks, Spark," said Jade.

"Well if you two are gonna go report to the Vanguard, I think I'm gonna head back to my room," said Rogue, "We'll see about that bar tomorrow... You goin' too, Kay?"

"Yeah." Kaedro turned to the rest of them. "See you guys tomorrow." With that, the two Exos made their way toward the Guardians' quarters.

Bazzle sighed. "I would join you, but I have business on the Wall."

Fyr nodded. "It's cool dude. Catch ya later." After the Titan left, he turned to Jade. "I can't believe you'd rather report to the Vanguard than go to the City!"

"You know it's the right thing to do," said Jade, "We're Guardians, Fyr. This is our job. If we don't do it then there won't be a City to go to."

Fyr sighed. "Man, I hate it when you're right… Let's go then."

As they entered the Vanguards' room, Jade was surprised to see that they were not the only ones paying a visit.

Standing across from Cayde was a very strange looking Guardian. She wore black armor with spikes on the shoulders and her head was almost completely covered by a hood. What could be seen of her face was ashen-colored and she wore a black cloth across the upper half, though it didn't completely conceal her three glowing eyes or the black substance that streamed endlessly down her cheeks. In her hands, she held a strange glowing orb that was wreathed in ghostly green flames. She looked up at their entrance, as did the Vanguards. Each wore a different expression. Ikora looked curious, Zavala looked irritated, and Cayde… Well, Jade couldn't really tell. Exos were hard to read.

"Allerton. Wrythal," said Zavala sharply, "What are you doing here?"

Jade shot Fyr a look. "We came to give our report," she said, "The mission was a success."

Zavala looked puzzled. "Mission?"

"We were assigned by the Speaker to investigate Fallen activity in the Cosmodrome."

Zavala frowned. "Even if your mission was assigned by the Speaker, a member of the Vanguard would have had to sign off on it." There was a long pause. Zavala turned to look at Cayde suspiciously.

The Hunter coughed. "Soooo… Successful then? Good. That's...good."

Zavala opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jade broke in. "Sir? I know you didn't authorize it, but that mission might have saved the Tower and the City… The Hive have arrived on Earth."

At this, the stranger's head snapped up. Ikora's gaze sharpened. "The Hive on Earth…" She sighed. "Well, authorized or not, you were right to bring this to us... I don't think any of us can dispute that."

Zavala frowned but nodded. "This is troubling," he said, "Especially with-" He glanced at the stranger, cutting off his words. "...Very well," he said finally, "You are dismissed."

Cayde cleared his throat. "Hang on there, Zav. Now I wouldn't know a thing about this 'mission' someone...allegedly signed off on. But if we're gonna start movin' against the Hive, we might want these two to stick around. It ain't like we got a ton of options here. There ain't many other Guardians at the Tower so we might want 'em here if we're gonna talk strategy… Just a point of interest."

Zavala sighed. "...Fine. They can stay."

"Cool," said Fyr, whose gaze was fixed on the stranger suspiciously, "But if we're staying, I wanna know who the lady with the creepy ball is... She keeps staring at me."

Zavala looked unimpressed but Ikora spoke up, amusement in her tone. "This is Eris Morn," she said, "She was a member of the fireteam that disappeared on the Moon several years ago."

Jade's eyes widened in realization. Delta had said something about the Moon expedition when she recounting the Guardians' history. "...just a few years ago, survivors of Mare Imbrium gathered a fireteam and entered the Hive fortresses on the Moon. They...never came back…"

Cayde spoke next. "Yeah. Apparently, she's the only survivor. Lasted for years among the Hive… I think she went a bit..." He twirled his finger next to his head.

Unfortunately the stranger - Eris Morn - saw him. "I'm not mad!" she said, "The signs are real!"

Zavala cleared his throat. "Whether they are real or not remains to be seen," he said, "At any rate, Eris has...warned us of a coming threat - worse than any we've encountered before."

"His name is Crota," Eris said, "And his spawn now walk this world."

"Yeah… That," said Cayde.

"Now that we know the Hive are on Earth, we must find out what they're planning," said Ikora, "We must strike back."

Zavala sighed and all at once, Jade saw what was going on. He doesn't trust Eris, she realized, But Ikora does and she's trying to convince him to make a move. She waited for the Titan's response.

"I am not inclined to send Guardians on missions based on...uncertain sources," he said, "However, the presence of the Hive on Earth calls for...consideration."

Cayde nodded. "Yeah. We should look into sendin' a Guardian to investigate… Hell, maybe even think about liftin' the lunar sanctions."

Zavala shot him a look. "I don't know if we would go that far, Cayde. Those sanctions were put in place for a reason."

"Whatever you plan to do, we must be swift," said Eris, "Until we find Crota, we're all just water racing down the drain..."

Just then, a crazy idea popped into Jade's head. "We could go." The Vanguards turned to stare at her. "Fyr and I. We could do it."

"The Moon? I'm so ready!" said Fyr.

But Zavala shook his head. "Though both of you have proven to be...adept, this mission would require a Guardian with more experience."

"C'mon, Zav!" said Cayde, "They're here now, they've worked together before, and they just came back from a successful mission."

"You've interfered enough, Cayde. I'm going to let the mission sign off slide, but any future lunar mission will involve a more-experienced Guardian." Cayde rolled his eyes but relented. Zavala looked back to Jade. "Dismissed, Wrythal."

Jade's mouth thinned, but she knew better than to press the issue. Nodding at the Vanguards, she turned and exited the room, Fyr following close behind.

"I'm sorry that didn't work out, Jade," said Delta sympathetically.

"Who knows? Perhaps it was for the best," said Spark.

"Spark!"

"What? I'm just telling them not to be discouraged."

Fyr sighed. "Man, I thought we were gonna get a Moon mission! This sucks!"

Jade sighed. "Yeah… Look, I'm feeling a bit tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

Fyr nodded. "Sure thing... Laterz." He walked off, leaving Jade and Delta to make their way to their quarters.

"Tomorrow, you should speak with Ikora," said Delta, "She'll want to know about your discovery of your Sunsinger abilities."

Jade nodded. "I'll talk to her…" She laughed. "If I'd known how life as a Guardian would turn out, maybe I would've preferred to stay dead."

"With what the Hive are planning, it isn't a good idea to jinx yourself..."

A/N: So Fyr and Jade have finally met Eris. I won't give anything away, but things are gonna start ramping up in the upcoming chapters. S/o to all my readers. Much love 3

ConnorPerson: Gunslingers are pretty cool. You won't have to wait long for Fyr's subclass to be revealed.

Next chapter on Wednesday!

- TheWolfParadox