Malachi screamed out for his friend. He fired his heavy machine gun, tears streaming down his face. The bullets pierced through a few knights and wizards around the room. He aimed for the big ones. The acolyte and thrall were next on his agenda. Crota watched, a devil-made smirk on his mouth. He laughed, mocking the small guardians below.
Alaura burst into action, shouting as many enemies as she could. Acolytes fell one-by-one until they all scattered across the room. All the commotion boomed in her ears. Adrenaline pumped through her system, causing her body to want to instinctively flee. She fought against it, allowing the natural drug to keep her body alert and distract her mind from her injury.
Anger boiled in Alaura's veins, yet she couldn't feel her heart. Was it even beating? Had it finally turned into dust? Had her heart stayed shattered from events prior? Her stomach dropped; she couldn't yell Tanis' name, much less utter it. He's not dead. No. Not him too. She thought to herself to keep her head on straight.
"Alaura!" Malachi called out, stifling a broken sob. He sniffled and blinked repeatedly to clear his teary vision. "What are you doing? Get out of here!" He threw a knife at the pack of thrall swarming his way, taking one down in the process. I can't lose you too. Malachi panicked when the thrall crowded around him, clawing at his armor every which way. He chucked a grenade at the ground; it created a smoke screen, turning Malachi invisible to the Hive. What the…?
The Darkness! Macey nearly screamed into Malachi's mind. She focused on the chaos too, making sure she wouldn't get him killed in the process of her explanation. You are surrounded by darkness. Use it to your advantage and conjure it up from your core. The Light will help set you free.
"I-" Malachi paused as he watched the smoke screen form around him. Screaming, screeching, yelling, the whole room sounded like Satan released Hell on Earth, or, well, the moon. His mind clouded, causing him to react slowly. Tanis is gone…Gone. That kid that was once full of life, yet so much hatred? Gone. Slaughtered by some alien god. And for what? Fighting for what's right? Fighting to keep humanity alive? He's dead. DEAD. But...I can save Alaura while there's still time. The eye of the storm of agony that swirled inside of him remained calm; he pushed his focus on that. "I will."
"-Are you listening to me? Malachi!"
"What?"
"We're going to do Bounding Overwatch-" Alaura hesitated and blinked for a split second. Malachi had no idea what that was. She punched a thrall in the face, electrifying it to death. "The rocks! Get behind the rocks and cover me." She moved up on her side, steadily aiming for the best trajectory to get to Tanis. Bullets shot into the ground behind her, quickly catching up to her, until she rolled behind a boulder. She waved over to Malachi, calling out over the thunderous chorus of screams. "Your turn! I have your back."
Malachi dove out from behind the rock and ran to the next possible cover. He jumped briefly, dodging a few bullets along the way. His heart thumped against his chest, threatening to burst out at any given moment. He focused on the rock, not noticing the acolyte on his side. The creatures shot him in the shoulder. Biting back the sudden jolt of pain, he slid behind cover, brushing up dust and other particles from the floor. "What happened to covering me?"
The Titan reloaded her assault rifle and ducked behind cover. She scoffed, noticing his mockery and jokes were just a defense system. Alaura's stomach twisted. Maybe he's reverting back to closing off his feelings…I like the way he is now, though. She played along, but on a more serious note, "Don't run into the fire then. We have to take what we can get. A few bullets is better than death." She exhaled deeply, prepping herself for the next run. "Repeat."
Alaura darted out, leaving Malachi to cover her. He fired his hand cannon one, two, three times, taking down a knight. Wizards were much more difficult, but the faster he shot, the more Hive fell. He licked the sweat off of his lips and pushed the next few statements out to get them off of his chest, "Look, Alaura…I'm sorry Tanis knocked you out like that. If you were here, the poor kid wouldn't've…" He trailed off, but continued shooting until he ran out of primary ammo.
"Apology will be accepted once we all get out of here alive." Tanis isn't dead. He can't be. He's a robot now. There's gotta be a way to repair him…right? She grabbed an acolyte by the neck, using him as a shield from oncoming fire. The acolyte screeched as it got hit, each bullet piercing through its bony structure. When it disintegrated, Alaura ducked down.
While the two remaining guardians played leapfrog, Dinklebot stared down blankly at his fallen guardian. Tanis' body had crumpled onto the ground, limbs twisted in different directions. The Light that was one inside him had been ripped out in its entirety. "I-is there a way…?" The white-shelled ghost stopped in its tracks, his voice broken by the horrible guilt and sorrow it felt. "I didn't know a wielder of the Light could die. We presumed so, but it's always so much more different experiencing it."
The fight around them seemed to happen in slow motion. Alaura's primary gun ran out of ammo, so to save time, she threw it onto her back and equipped her sidearm. The bullets inched through the air, slowly making their way towards the faces of some Hive. The thrall attempted to get close enough to claw the hell out of her armor, their thin limbs flying through the air. The wizards floated, throwing their hands out, about to cast some Hive magic on the guardians. Knights aimed their guns towards the heroes, firing the big blasters. Acolytes scattered, shooting their guns from all around the room.
Malachi jumped up into the air, channeling the Darkness around him with Macey's aid. A purple glow emanated off of him; a bright void bow and arrow formed in his hands. He glanced down at it in confusion for a split second, but quickly grasped the situation at hand. He launched an arrow right at Crota's feet. The arrow exploded into void light, tethering Crota and the surrounding Hive in their place. Dinklebot couldn't see the Hunter's expression, but he was one hundred percent positive that a satisfied grin began to form on his lips.
Had The Traveler slowed time down so he could have one last moment? Or had it sped his processes up? At this point, the ghost was grateful to have a sliver of time.
"The Traveler told us that we'd only be able to bring back our guardian one time." Dinklebot sighed. The fact that they were mere prototypes didn't help at all. What was the Traveler's plan? Were they to be cast off once the ghosts were perfected? Would they be shut off? The ghost released those questions from his mind and focused on one thing.
One of them must ascend from the Dark.
The other must descend from the Light.
A heavy weight set itself onto the small ghost. He's the one that did this. He put his guardian into this situation. Now, he must pay the price. "In these dark times, remember me as a dear friend, not a ghost who should only care about you because I was assigned. We understood each other so much differently than the others do…"
The battle raged on in its slow fashion. A mass of green and black light formed behind the two guardians, allowing three golden knights with tooth-edged swords to spawn in. They ran straight towards the wielders of the Light and lashed out at them. Surprised, both guardians jumped up, but only ended up in a crowd of thrall and acolyte.
Dinklebot peered back at his broken guardian, his eye dimming from sadness. "I haven't even opened up to the other two ghosts. You were, and always will be, my best friend. But without my guardian, who am I? My Light shall become yours. With that, I must take my leave."
Urgency was detected within the other guardians' yelling. Their Light was barely holding in this darkness ridden area. Soon, their shields would deplete, leaving them vulnerable to the inevitable. "I am doing the right thing," the ghost whispered to himself.
With resolution, he casted a strong blue light on Tanis, and deconstructed his own shell into part around a core of Light. "Open yourself to the Light. Glimpse, for a few rapturous moments, the truth beyond the powers you wield. Through this, you can learn to pluck yourself out of nothingness like the phoenix of ancient myth. Goodbye, my guardian."
In a rush of fiery red orange light, Tanis ressurected from his dead form. Large pheonix-like wings stretched out from his back as fire raged on, encompassing his entire body. Noticing all of the new Hive in the room and the screams from his teammates, he chucked hand grenades left and right. Wherever the grenades landed, a ball of fire formed midair and consumed everything around it. Tanis laughed gleefully at his new power, watching the Hive fall to his Light.
"Tanis!" Alaura and Malachi called out simultaneously, their voices raised higher in shock. They ran through the solar fireballs, ignoring the small singeing pain, just to get to their newly revived teammate.
When the fire died out, Tanis exclaimed, "Dinklebot, did you see that?"
Silence met his ears and his mind. No new thoughts. No responses over comms. Tanis' stomach dropped, well, if he had one, and he frantically glimpsed around. There laying on the ground was a white ghost shell. The blue light from its eye had died out, leaving it lifeless.
Tanis yelled out in a mixture sheer panic and pain, "No! No!" He picked up the dead ghost before the Hive could and caressed it against his chest. He ran his fingers over the edges leading up to its eye. Say something! He screamed, louder this time, "Please come back. Dinklebot, please!"
The other two guardians grabbed Tanis by the arms, beckoning him towards the hall they came from. "We got you! Let's go!" They both yelled, urging Tanis to start running. The Hive were closing in, yet the Warlock couldn't care less. His mind was set on the lifeless friend in his hands.
Alaura and Malachi dragged him out of there. Alaura hung back for a second, powering herself up with Jarvis' help. Her entire being glowed an electrifying blue as lightning danced between her fingers. She punched the wall of the hall and pounded her fists against the floor. The whole area shook, throwing the guardians off their balance. The rocks caved in, trapping the Hive in the giant room with their master.
Tanis stared at his fallen ghost the whole way back to the ship. He couldn't help but to think. This is all my fault.
