"One day the Last City will be known as the First City." - Twilight Garrison

Harley groaned as he rolled out of bed. He still couldn't believe he and Rae had been in the Vault of Glass for four months. He started to pull on his clothes as he watched Prism rise from the dresser and decided to share his thoughts with her. "I can't believe it's been four months."

"I did tell you that exploring the Vault of Glass was a bad idea," said Prism unsympathetically, "But you wanted to go anyway."

"Yeah yeah. I know. Still, it's hard to come to terms with."

"Mm. And you haven't even spoken to the Vanguard yet."

He grimaced. "Don't remind me… I know Bazzle said they're probably not mad anymore but...it just feels a lot more recent for me."

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

Harley nodded, starting for the door. "Do you think they're past the whole 'Osiris' thing?"

"That new Guardian Jade seems to think so." They began to make their way down the stairs.

"Yeah… What do you think about them? Jade and Fyr?"

"Well, I think it's good for you to meet other Guardians… Especially if you are serious about forming that team."

"I am... But it seems like this whole Hive thing is a bit more important right now, so I guess it'll have to wait." Harley stepped off the last step, and headed in the direction of the Hall of Guardians.

"Harley Hayden wants to focus on the Hive instead of the Vex?" said Prism in mock astonishment.

"Well, it's not like we can ignore it." They entered the Hall of Guardians.

"Hayden!" said Shaxx, "Welcome back! Torelli told me you'd returned."

"Hey, Shaxx."

"Come to join them in the Crucible?"

Harley shook his head. "Not this time."

Shaxx nodded. "Well don't worry. The Crucible isn't going anywhere."

Harley nodded and continued past him. His skin crawled with anticipation as he approached the entrance to the Vanguard room. How will they react? Will they be happy to see me? Angry? Will they still think I'm Osiris? As he entered the room, he noticed another Guardian standing at the table across from Cayde, seemingly talking to herself. Her skin was pale and she wore dark armor. When she looked at him, Harley saw three glowing green eyes concealed behind a strip of black fabric. He shivered as he descended the last few steps. Then he directed his attention to the Vanguard, all of whom had stopped what they'd been doing to stare at him. There was a long uncomfortable moment where no one moved or spoke. Finally, it was broken by Cayde.

"I don't believe it."

"Hayden…" said Zavala in disbelief.

"You sure?" said Cayde, "Could be a ghost." He stepped closer to Harley. "You sure you ain't a ghost?"

Harley finally managed to get words out. "Pretty sure."

Cayde stepped closer again and poked him in the chest. "Holy shit it really is you… C'mere kid." Harley was caught off guard as the Hunter pulled him in for a hug. Then Cayde stepped back, his hands on Harley's shoulders. "Man, I thought we lost ya. Would've been too bad 'cause then you wouldn't get to hear me say this… I...was a mega jerk." Harley laughed. "No seriously kid. I shoulda said something to you, but instead I just went along with it. I was a jerk. …And treasure those words, 'cause that's somethin' you'll only hear once in a blue moon." Cayde let his arms fall back to his sides.

"Don't worry," said Harley, "I forgive you." He turned to the other two Vanguard. "I forgive all of you."

Ikora sighed. "We haven't even apologized yet," she said, "But I will do so now… We jumped to conclusions, Harley. We kept our suspicions from you and we shouldn't have." She gave a wry smile. "Even the wisest can have faulty judgement at times."

Cayde whistled. "Talk about once in a blue moon…"

Zavala sighed. "I too apologize," he said, "I confess it was because of me that things ended the way they did. I was wrong about you, and some part of me knew it. Unfortunately, that just made me more unwilling to admit it."

Harley nodded. "I know… So does that mean we can put this whole Osiris thing behind us?"

"Yes please," said Cayde, "Osiris is a name I've been hearin' far too much recently."

There was another long moment of awkward silence. Harley cleared his throat. "Uh, so... I heard the Hive are up to something."

Cayde snorted. "When are the Hive not up to somethin'? Creepy bastards… Hey, speakin' of creepy, have you met Eris Morn?" The 3-eyed Guardian across from Cayde shot him a death glare.

"I have not," said Harley, "Um… Nice to meet you?"

"I welcome any Guardian that can help assure Crota's destruction."

"Riiiight... Who's Crota?"

"Big bad Hive boss," said Cayde, "He's one of their gods or somethin'."

"His gaze is fixed on Earth," said Eris, "For months, his disciples have been gathering, preparing to invade... Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of running a mission." She turned away from them.

"Ookay. Can someone give me a run-down on whatever I missed? 'Cause apparently I missed a lot."

"Long ago," said Ikora, "a great battle was fought on the Moon between the Guardians and the Hive. Mare Imbrium... It was a battle we lost...with many casualties. Crota was there. Thousands died to his blade... The Consensus put sanctions in place to ensure that no such tragedy would befall us again. However some years ago, a fireteam of Guardians entered the Hive fortresses on the Moon to bring Crota down. Eris was one of them."

"She arrived at the Tower two months ago," said Zavala, "She brought news of the failed expedition and warnings of a new Hive threat, proven by Allerton and Wrythal's discovery of Hive on Earth. Since then, we have lowered the lunar sanctions and authorized missions to discover what they were planning."

Ikora nodded. "Not long ago, we discovered that the Hive were draining the Traveler's Light by the means of a dark ritual. Jade and Fyr stopped the ritual, giving us hope that the Traveler may yet heal. But now the Hive are engaged in the process of waking Crota's soul."

Harley shook his head. "Holy crap..."

"Sounds crazy," said Cayde, "But it's true. Fyr and Jade left this mornin'. Eris is talkin' to 'em right now over the comms."

Harley shook his head again. "I should be helping," he said, "If I was here sooner…"

"Kid, there's nothin' you could've done to prevent this from happenin'," said Cayde, "Sure, havin' another Guardian would've helped, but that's all in the past now."

Harley shook his head again. "I can't just- I should be out there."

"You should be resting," said Zavala, "However, given my knowledge of Guardians and Hunters, in particular, I do not think that will happen."

"You're right. It won't. So if I could just-"

"Harley, even if we thought you were ready for another mission, there's still the matter of your last...outing," said Ikora.

Zavala nodded in agreement. "I believe you are aware that the Vault of Glass is off-limits," he said. Harley nodded and hung his head. "But seeing as you have already been there, we would like a report on what you and Korrin have discovered."

Harley looked up in surprise. All three Vanguard looked expectant. Even Eris Morn seemed curious. "Er, right… We didn't get very far, though."

Ikora smiled. "While that may be true, you are still our best source of information on the Vault. Ancient records and tales from a half-mad Hunter are hardly the most credible."

"That would depend on whether you consider Cayde to be a credible source," said Zavala.

"Hey!" said Cayde, "I resent that!"

Zavala looked back to Harley, motioning for him to speak. "Ok," said Harley, "So after we got past the entrance, which I won't explain 'cause I'm not sure I understood it myself, there's basically tunnels that go pretty far down underground and then a bunch of platforms that we had to jump across. Then we got to this huge platform with all these outcroppings and pillars and stuff. There were a lot of Vex there. Goblins, Harpies, Hobgoblins, Minotaurs… And these things called Fanatics which are like headless Goblins that explode when they get close."

"Is that all?" asked Zavala.

Harley shook his head. "No… We also saw the Templar."

Ikora's gaze sharpened. "The Templar?" she said, "The same Templar Kabr and Pahanin spoke of?"

Harley nodded. "It looks like a massive Hydra, except its shields don't have a gap... There's no way to damage it."

The Vanguards exchanged grave looks. "Now we know why Kabr's expedition was doomed to fail," said Ikora.

"Indeed," said Zavala. He turned back to Harley. "Thank you for telling us this, Hayden." Harley nodded. "We will leave the rest of the discussion for a later time. Presently, there are more urgent matters that require our attention, so on that note...you are dismissed for now."

Harley nodded again and turned to leave. Just before he got out of range, he heard Cayde's parting words. "It's good to have ya back, kid."

"Well that wasn't so bad," said Prism.

"Yeah... I guess there were a lot of ways that could've gone worse... At least they seemed happy to see me." Despite the fact that the City was plagued with the looming threat of one of the worst adversaries Guardians had ever faced.

"And they should be," said Prism matter-of-factly.

"Whatever you say," Harley muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Harley shrugged. "I mean, I'm back, but what good is that gonna do when a Hive god is threatening to invade Earth? How could one Guardian hope to tip the scales? Especially when there're other amazing Guardians already out there like Bazzle and Jade and Fyr? I dunno, Prism...I just feel like everyone looks at me and sees something else...something I'm not. What makes me so much better than all the other Guardians? Nothing! I'm not better than them. I'm one of them. But when I face the Vanguard, the Speaker, even other Guardians, it's like they're all waiting for me to single-handedly save the freakin' galaxy or something. And that responsibility...it scares me." He shook his head. "They should find someone else to look up to... 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not the right person for the job."

Prism flew in front of him, making him stop. "I don't think you understand how important you are, Harley."

Harley sighed. "Believe me, I know... 'Last hope of humanity.' 'Extensions of the Traveler's Light.' I've heard it all before."

"I don't mean Guardians in general. I mean you. Personally."

Harley scoffed. "I just told you this...what have I done that makes me any different from everyone else?"

"It's not about what you've done so much as what you represent. Think about it... For six years there were no new Guardians. Then you show up out of the blue...and from Mercury no less. Your arrival brought new hope for the Guardians, for the City and its future." She paused before adding an afterthought. "Besides… You have done some pretty amazing stuff."

Harley smiled. "Only 'cause I had a pretty amazing Ghost."

"...You'd better believe it."

A/N: Man, it feels good to write from Harley's perspective again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As for all of you Jade and Fyr fans, don't worry. There will still be more chapters from their perspective. However, while I've got you all here, I'd like to bring up a point and ask a question. We're getting fairly close to the end of this story and like before, there will be a period of lag time before the third story comes out. So my question is twofold.

First, would you guys be interested in seeing oneshots about the characters/ghosts/etc? and second, is there anything you'd like to request a oneshot of? I'll revisit this topic in later chapters, but I thought it was best to start getting feedback now.

ConnorPerson: Well, I did some research (aka read the Guidelines) and unfortunately, yes, this site prohibits authors from submitting multiple works with the same content ("no exceptions"). It looks like things will be staying as they are. On that note, do you think it'd be worth it for me to start a collection specifically for this series? (especially considering the fact that more stories and possibly oneshots will be joining)

ShadowRedZoroark: It's nice to see a new face in the reviews. It's too bad this site doesn't allow you to make a series, which is why I had to settle for changing the titles to make it clearer that the two stories are meant to go together. Thanks for the review! :D

Until next time, guys!

- TheWolfParadox