"Are we sure about this?" Valora asked for the seventh time as the Tower came into view.

"Absolutely!" Aiden was sitting on her head again, though without her helmet in the way he was nestled in her hair. "Thing said the information we need is in Ava's head and the only way I can see to get that is by talking to her."

Valora nodded. "Yes, but maybe we should run it past the Vanguard first."

"We talked about that," Aiden reminded her smugly, "and we decided that it would be best to skip that step."

"That's a pretty slippery slope, Aiden. I don't think I'm comfortable keeping something like that a secret."

"Don't think of it as a secret. Just think of it as a delayed truth."

Valora sighed. "Pretty sure that's still a lie, bud."

"Of course it is. Just don't think of it as a lie. Anyway, you've said it yourself: we need to know what she knows and this might be the only way to do it. We talk to her, then go to the Vanguard. Delayed truth."

"Aiden-"

"You heard what Thing said. She's on the edge of complete lunacy, or death, and we don't have a lot of time."

"They think she'll recover fine. We have plenty of time."

"They think. She might not. Besides, even if she makes a full recovery whatever information she has could be time sensitive."

Valora was quiet for a moment, wondering what exactly 'time sensitive' might mean to a timeless Vex entity. According to Ava's Ghost, she had walked through time herself. Could something really be time sensitive if time was meaningless? "Alright," curiosity finally won over Valora's waring mind over, "we go talk to crazy. But-¨ she had to raise her voice to talk over Aiden's cheer. ¨-But then immediately to the Vanguard."

"Heh, you said butt butt." The guilt that settled on Valora's shoulders did not seem to bother the hyperactive Ghost. "I want icecream. Do you think we could stop for icecream? Maybe just some frozen yogurt? Oh! Cotton candy!"

"Aiden," Valora sighed, "you can't even eat the icecream. What are you talking about?"

"I just like the way it looks!" He was buzzing around her head and shoulders in the cramped space, doing flips and other aerial tricks.

"Maybe later."

"You promise?"

She smiled. "I promise."

~o~

Xander hadn't been expecting Valora, but it appeared that Ava had. Or, at the very least, she didn't show any surprise when Valora opened the door and walked in with all the confidence of somebody who lived there.

Aiden was the first to break the awkward, stunned silence. "We need to talk to Ava because all the information was deleted and then I took a picture of the sky and then Thing looked at the duck and then said Ava knows the answer and we need the answer and we didn't tell the Vanguard because we need to talk to you quickly before you go more crazy or die or something and also Valora said we could get ice cream later!"

Completely confused, Xander looked to Valora who merely shrugged at the Ghost's rushed explanation. "Yeah. That about sums it all up."

Ava sat up from where she had been sleeping fitfully, pulling her cloak back up over her shoulders. Her breath hitched as her eyes landed on Aiden. Xander subtly shifted between them, effectively blocking Ava's view of the bright orange Ghost. She gave him a small, grateful nod before turning her attention to Valora. "I haven't figured any of it out yet." Her voice was dull and she was having difficulty keeping her eyes open.

"That's why I'm here." She shared a look with Aiden, the only gesture conveying her uncertainty. "I'm fairly sure I know how to help you do that."

This is a bad idea. Miles reminded Xander as if he didn't already know. Valora and Aiden shouldn't be anywhere near Ava, especially considering the state she's in. And absolutely none of this should be going on without the Vanguard's permission, or knowledge. I cannot just stand by and watch this unfold.

Xander examined Ava for a silent moment. She seemed sane enough at this moment in time. I know. I know. But I think she's right. This might be our best option.

That is not for you to decide. I must tell the Vanguard.

Five minutes. All I ask is for you to stay quiet for five minutes.

And if Ava loses it again and goes after Aiden?

Then I'll stop her.

Because that worked out so well the first time.

Not willing to justify that response with an answer Xander simply nodded to Valora. She stepped further into the room, but stopped in the middle of the kitchen keeping a comfortable distance between herself and Ava. "We don't have a lot of time," Valora started, "so tell me the important parts."

"It's all got something to do with the Vex." Ava said softly, the words seeming to drag out of her as she leaned her head against the sofa cushions and closed her eyes. "And It- Thing is involved, has been since the… beginning, I guess. Whatever research they- we- did before the Collapse on the Vex in the Ishtar Sink is connected. I'm not so sure Thing is our enemy anymore."

Despite himself Xander let out a small gasp of surprise causing Ava's eyes to open again and focus on him lazily.

"I don't know. It… Thing almost seems to be helping us, and what I can remember…" she trailed off, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I think Thing was trying to help before. I think I had something figured out, but then I- I died."

"What, though?" Valora asked. She had inched forward slightly while Ava was talking. "What did you figure out?"

"I don't remember. When I was brought back I didn't remember anything. Now some of it is coming back, but it's too much at once and there's other stuff in there too that doesn't belong."

"Sorcha." Xander hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it came out anyway.

Ava flinched away from the name, wrapping her cloak closer around her. "That's irrelevant." she whispered.

Aiden moved closer to Valora, either out of his own discomfort or Valora's. "Are you sure?" Ava glanced up at her for a half second before looking away again. "Sure that it's irrelevant, I mean."

"Yes." The brief flash of razor sharp focus and ire in Ava's eyes was enough to make Valora glance back at Aiden. The momentary surge of emotion seemed to cost Ava and she slumped against the cushions again. "Speaking of all that, tell me your story."

"Excuse me?"

Not good. Miles muttered. Xander found himself agreeing with his Ghost. Ava already seemed to be getting under Valora's skin. He moved back to lean against the back of the sofa, still keeping himself between the two.

"What happened to your original Ghost?" She clarified, not even lifting her head at the harshness in Valora's tone. "And your old team? You know my story. I want to know yours." Her voice was weighed down heavily with exhaustion, but the command in it was clear.

"No."

"Then I guess we'll never know what's in my head."

Valora looked at Xander. "There is no way she's really this petty."

"Yes." Xander looked down at Ava, exasperated. There was the slight curve of a smug smile to her lips. "Yes she is."

"Information for information. A fair deal, no?" She was teasing now, making sure Valora knew that she held all the power in this conversation.

Aiden spoke up then, drowning out whatever protest Valora was about to make, in an attempt to smooth things over. "Sounds fair to me. Just a quick story, then some vital information, and nobody has to get into a fight or do anything we might regret later once we've all calmed down."

Ava chuckled quietly to herself, but didn't say anything. Xander assumed she had thought of a sarcastic remark and was too tired to say it. Too tired to say it because there was no way she would ever voluntarily keep something to herself.

Valora seemed to wrap up a silent argument with Aiden. "Fine." She took a step back to lean against the counter. "My first Ghost died with J and Mac. It was just the three of us on what was a simple strike… Until it wasn't." Aiden drooped before setting himself down on the counter by Valora's hand. She absently patted his shell.

There was no indication of judgement in Ava's tone when she spoke again. "Why not retire? You mentioned that the first time we met, living away from all the chaos after losing your Ghost. But you did lose your Ghost, and you're still here."

"Couldn't leave Aiden all alone."

"Is that really it?"

"Essentially." Valora answered shortly, and then after a brief hesitation, "I wouldn't expect someone who killed their supposed friend's Ghost to understand what it's like to lose someone."

Greer was the first to speak up in Ava's defense. She drifted up from the cushions and hovered over her Guardian. "That was uncalled for."

Ava, surprisingly, called Greer back without even opening her eyes. "I guess we now know what buttons to push to crack your goody-goody attitude."

"Hows about we don't do any button pushing." Aiden suggested.

Ava hummed thoughtfully before agreeing. "What do you want to know, Valora?"

"Everything."

She laughed. "No you don't. I'm going to need something more specific to go off of."

"Okay." Valora pushed the pile of junk food to the back of the counter and lifted herself up to perch on the edge. "Thing mentioned that you used to know the answer. What was it?"

"I'm not sure yet." She started drumming her fingers on the cushions, the first sign of her agitation. "I know that people were in some sort of imminent danger, and I argued with Thing about how to help them. Right now it's too jumbled up. I can't- I don't know."

"Try harder."

Ava opened her eyes to glare at Valora. "How about we switch places? You try to sort through memory and hallucinations with a massive headache and I'll just sit there and throw out such helpful suggestions."

"Let's all stay calm." Aiden interjected. "Perhaps we should take a break and look at this picture of a kitten and a puppy snuggling I took on the way up here."

Shaking her head at the Ghost, Valora took a breath before continuing. "What was the question, then?"

"Why are the dead walking. That was the question." Ava sighed, struggling to keep her eyes open and focused on the empty wall next to Valora's head. "And I think It was talking about us."

"Us?"

"Guardians."

Xander was starting to feel irrelevant as the two women continued talking without acknowledging him, but that was something akin to a relief. At least they weren't fighting.

"How were Guardians involved before the Collapse?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say time travel."

Valora straightened. "Are you saying Guardians traveled back to the Golden Age?"

"No. I'm saying It can travel through time. It met up with some Guardians. It applied that information to whatever was going on at the time."

"How?"

"I'm not sure, but knowing what happens in the future is definitely an advantage. Unless of course you don't know the beginning of the story. Then it's just confusing."

"Clarify"

"We've picked up the middle book in the series and started reading. We can't figure out the end until we know the beginning."

"And you know the beginning?"

Ava laughed bitterly before shaking her head. "Somewhere I almost do."

"You're starting to sound a lot like Thing." Valora snapped. Aiden tapped the side of Valora's head with one of his spines and she looked at him, rolled her eyes, then smiled tightly back at Ava.

"It wanted me to understand madness." she said instead of directly addressing what Valora had said. "I think I do now."

Valora groaned and Aiden nudged her again. "Trench coat full of bees, remember?"

Ava sat up straight at that and look straight at the Ghost. It was the most lively Xander had seen her since they first got to Venus. "Is that a Warlock thing?"

"No it's-"

"Okay, so," Aiden interrupted Valora excitedly, "we were on Venus and Valora fell and then she shot some stuff but then the Sunbreaker was a real jerk so she shoved him off a cliff-"

"You did what?" Ava laughed before covering her grin with her hands. She leaned over the back of the sofa and met Valora's eyes. "You shoved somebody off a cliff and then you call me crazy?!" As soon as she said it she seemed to realize that she had impulsively opened herself up to condemnation from Valora. Nothing changed except her eyes, but Xander knew her well enough to recognize that look. Wary assessment and a switch to the defensive.

But Valora didn't say anything admonishing. Instead she laughed as well. "He really was a jerk. Literally just wasted some Vex and he was trying to flirt with me."

Ava's grin grew and the calculating look in her eyes fell away. "Sunbreaker, yeah? I know that guy! I swear he's hit on every single girl in the Tower. Probably the guys, too, now that I'm thinking about it."

"He ever hit on you?"

"Yes. I threw a rock at his head."

"You do that a lot, apparently."

"I cannot believe that you shoved him off a cli-" She stopped laughing suddenly and her eyes widened with a sudden realization. Valora slid off the counter and backed a step toward the door, but Ava appeared to have forgotten about her entirely. "We have to go back."

"To Venus?" Xander asked. Miles was urging him to tell Valora to leave and contact the Vanguard. He ignored him. This was different. Ava's gaze hadn't gone blank and still this time. Instead she was entirely focused on his face, not shying away from direct eye contact.

"No. Where we found the Ghost."

"Why?"

"Because it's all connected!" She dropped her face into his hands when Xander only stared at her in confusion. "You can't see it, but I can see it now!"

"See what?"

She looked up at him again and clasped her hands together in her lap so tight it wouldn't have surprised him if she broke some of her fingers. "What the Vex were doing there! Xander, we were on Earth! Nobody is paying attention to that because of everything else that's going on. What if the information the Ghost had is totally useless? What if it's all about where we found it? What were the Vex doing there? It can't be a coincidence. We have to go back!"

"No way. You can't leave the-"

"Xander, trust me."

He made the mistake of looking directly into her puppy-dog eyes and for a split second he almost bought into the complete conviction he found there. "No."

Ava stilled. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slammed one of her fists against the cushion before opening her eyes again. "Okay." she said quietly, standing up slowly.

Xander reached out to help her but she shoved him away. "Ava-"

"No, look, I-" She moved past him toward her room, her gaze not leaving the ground. "I get it so- Just- It's... okay." She gave him a small, understanding smile as she shut her door softly.

"Wow."

Xander looked back toward Valora and her Ghost and shrugged before sitting back down on the seat that Ava had just vacated. Valora took the dismissal and left silently.

I am going to tell the Vanguard now. Miles informed him.

Okay. Xander's agreement was as reluctant as Ava's had been, but he knew he had been toeing a dangerous line and he wasn't willing to step any further over it.

~o~

Aiden stayed quiet until they were a decent distance from Ava's door. "Are we going to tell the Vanguard now?"

Valora shook her head. "Not yet. I need more information first."

"Then where are we going?"

"The archives."

"Why?"

"Because- oh gosh this hurts to say- I think I agree with her."

Giggling, Aiden nudged the side of her head before settling on her shoulders. "Trench coat full of bees?"

"Just so many bees" Valora sighed

~ASDFGHJKL~

First, I would like to apologize for my long absence I've been really busy and I wrote the beginning half of this and then just died for some reason *shrug* Second, I CANNOT BELIEVE the amount of reviews I got! I was not expecting that many so I was pleasantly surprised. Also, HELLO YOU NEW PEOPLE HOW ARE YOU I'M SO GLAD YOU ARE HERE! by the way I noticed something was messed up with the 4th chapter so if when you read it the 4th and 5th chapters were the same go back and read 4 because it's important and you're probably very confused without it

Ava has figured something very important out and I bet you guys know exactly what stupid thing she's about to do next ;) Valora isn't far behind her on the epiphany, but for different reasons, and Xander is currently trying to keep both himself and Ava from getting into more trouble. I feel a bit bad for him really. Ava is truly the "bad influence" your parents always warned you about in school...

Order and Chaos: Yes I have decided that Xander is indeed human. Xander was a good little soldier until he met Ava and Sorcha and his Ghost is generally disappointed in everything Ava's dragged him into since...

As for the lore I love it! All of it. It's vague and beautiful and I'm constantly talking my brother's ear off about random theories because I am apparently incapable of shutting up about it and he's the only one that will listen to me anymore. I will unravel and speculate for hhhoooouuuurrrrsssss about the lore, but ask me about the metaphors in Moby Dick during english class and I will literally have no clue because I don't care at all. My priorities may be a bit skewed, but eh

Jayfeatther: Skorri's is my fave I'm pretty sure I literally cried I was laughing so hard. Variks, Kell of Waffles shall have all the blueberry that he pleases I have literally no problem with this I love everything about it I must make waffles now

FusRoDerp: Generally anything I ever do starts out confusing so :/ sorry! glad it got better though

B.A.: thank you for your review! I loved every bit of it! Oh goodness, Ava, my sweet child, she's really dug a hole for herself this time and I'm afraid she still has the shovel and her ridiculous impulsivity so her not making things worse may be some sort of miracle at this point. Do not fear you shall learn much much more about both Thing and Sorcha in the next chapter, or perhaps the one after next depending on how things go and I'm actually really excited about that so ! AIDEN IS MY CHILD AND I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART

This Is Sarcasm: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! WHY ARE WE YELLING! ITS OKAY I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO PLAY A LOT OF DESTINY LATELY SO I PLAYED ALL WEEKEND INSTEAD OF FINISHING THIS LIKE I WAS GONNA SO I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND! THE ONION! tRENCH COAT FULL OF BEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! I HATE SNIPERS SO MUCH BUT IM SO GOOD AT IT SO IM CONFLICTED *takes a deep breath* that was exhausting

sakura001: I guess technically this was a review for ch 4 but I'm responding here because this is my fic and I make the rules. I love Ava so much. She is my child and she needs a hug. But, yes, she really is a bitch. And that's what kills her so much about what Xander said to her. She knows that he's telling the truth, even if he does feel bad about it because it hurt her feelings, he was telling the truth. She also knows he generally avoids telling her the truth because she acts out like she does. There is a bit more information coming soon about why exactly she snaps when she does and why she goes after Aiden that makes what she did a little more understandable, but really she does need to chill...

Bumblebbee: aw shucks thanks for your sweet review :) You shall learn more about Sorcha soon and her relationship with Ava, though it was purely platonic