Blessed are those who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not falter
Vault of Glass Part VI
Do Not Falter
If this was any other time, Erek would've already made several idiotic jokes about time and space repeating itself within the Vault. The others probably would've laughed too, either from actual funniness or amusement at its stupidity and lightheartedness.
Either way, the joke would not have been a lie. Here they were once again, in the dark, surrounding a woodless fire, maintained by an Aro who looked as if he could vomit from exhaustion, contemplating their very narrow escape from a fate worse than death.
In the light of the Gorgon, Uldren flashed before his eyes; Mara did too, of course but Uldren was the surprise. After years of tell himself that he hated them and even almost convincing himself, that spoiled brat was still one of his final thoughts. It was a memory Erek wasn't sure he would recall normally. Erek had managed to sneak the three of them out of the palace, even procured terrible but effective disguises for all of them. The way their faces lit up at the nightlife. The purple Uldren turned the first time a woman so brazenly flirted with him.
Laughter bubbled in his throat. By the Traveler, he missed them. Even now, he didn't regret leaving the Reef. Nor could he bring himself to suddenly easily forgive their lack of support all those years ago. But his one regret was the effect his exile had on them.
Why did it take so much for him to finally admit it?
He straightened his leg, hoping to loosen the tightness. Then he asked, "What's the first thing you guys are going to do when we get home?"
There were quiet, subtle reactions to the sudden sound of his voice. The small hitch in Daniel's breathing, the twitch in Kayla's shoulders.
"First thing I'm gonna do when I get home?" Crona repeated, falling back against the stone wall, "Take a very long bath. They aren't charging us for water right? I'm not going to see find a piece of paper several feet long attached to my door?"
Erek snickered at that. "This is, of course, after the Vanguard gets done with us," she added. Then she sighed, "You think they know?"
"Fourteen Guardians suddenly disappearing?" Kayla asked, raising a hand over the flames, "I'd be surprised if they didn't."
Fourteen. The others were brought to mind. The last they had seen of the others was them facing down the deadly and terrible Heralds; big damn heroes, the lot of them, Erek remembered thinking and feeling a glimmer of hope and even pride.
Then Aro told them of the faceless figure cloaked in black. He couldn't even see the person's face but their presence had such a profound effect on him that he could only guess one person. Erek then remembered wanting to be sick, right then and there.
"I'm surprised they never figured us out," Daniel said, throwing specks of rock too tiny and fragile to be called pebbles into Aro's fire. Aro's head twisted to look at him. The Titan just shrugged. "I mean Cayde is an expert liar and Ikora is…Ikora," he explained, "They should've figured us out like it was nothing. But they didn't."
"The Speaker did," Crona interjected suddenly. Only Aro's head didn't swivel towards her in surprise, gaze remaining on the fire. "The way he acted," she continued, "It was like he knew and was trying to get us to admit it."
"But then he let us go," Aro said, "He never told the Vanguard either. He knew we were coming in here and he let us go."
"…Why?!" Kayla practically gasped, "Why did he not try to stop us?"
"His behavior stood out to me like a person being spoken to," Crona's Ghost explained, "But no one else was in the room with us."
"His Ghost maybe?" Erek asked, "Or…someone else?"
"Someone told him to let us go? Who has that kind of sway over him?" Aro asked. The fire lowered slightly as his concentration turned elsewhere.
Daniel kept throwing rocks into the fire. "Does it matter? We're here."
"But if Sol is right then…then somebody wanted us in here."
Daniel chuckled in disbelief, "Well…shit." He leaned back, putting more of his weight on Aro, "Why do I feel like we've stumbled into something big?"
"Bigger than the Heralds?" Kayla asked.
"Smaller than the Heralds and much closer to home."
"Then we'll get through it," Aro cut in, "Just like we'll get through this. And everything else."
He moved his hand over Daniel's, whose fingers interlocked with his. "The Dawn will Come and all that."
Kayla laughed out loud, "I remember that."
"Ugh, so do I." Erek let out a fake shudder, "I remember Daniel's drunk asstrying to sing it."
"Hey! I'm not that bad." Fake outrage laced with laughter.
"You have a deep voice, that's good but other than that…"
"Hey, hi, hello?" Crona waved her hands to get everyone's attention, "What are you people talking about?"
"A while back before," Daniel waved his hand in the air, "All this crap, Toland researched pre-Golden Age things, namely video games."
Crona scoffed, "Games? You aren't serious."
"I am! He found this really old role playing one. He got it working, he heard the song and…it really resonated with him. That things can always get better."
"Ah." Crona gave an exaggerated nodded, "Aro could probably sing it."
"He has actually," Daniel said, laughing when Aro jostled him.
"Oh but Shaxx!" Crona sighed, "When I tell you the man sings like an angel."
"But the match isn't over until Shaxx sings," Erek recited, "AND HE NEVER SINGS!"
Aro burst out in laughter, the fire jumping with the suddenness of it.
"No, no, you can't take Shaxx's word for it," Crona said, "You've got to take it from Lord Saladin." She cleared her throat and deepened her voice. 'The match isn't over until Shaxx sings. And he's very shy.'"
Erek fell over onto Kayla, practically howling.
"He really believed in the message of it," Daniel said, once he had calmed down himself. He threw his last stone into Aro's fire, "Then…all this happened to him."
"He was happy, you know. When he finally passed," Aro said, "Told me he believed in me. In us."
Daniel laughed softly, "You know, before, I wouldn't have given a damn how he died," he said, "But now…now I'm glad to hear it."
"Erek, how do you feel?" Aro asked. There was an air of finality about him. It was time to go.
Erek rose to his feet, shook out his cloak and stretched. "Like Crona needs a bath." A rock pelted his helmet. "And like sleeping. In a bed. With Asura being irritating in the next room.
Aro stood. Then one by one, the others stood after him. The fire slowly started to die down.
Crona brought up her wrist. "Ghost, you still with us? We're going to find Wrath now."
"I'm here," she said. Her voice was still as weak as when they found her but as sure as it has ever been, "And I'm ready. I understand what needs to be done. Kabr…Wrath…he needs to be stopped. For the good of everyone."
"And himself," Crona finished.
"And himself."
"You hear that? We're ready." Erek clapped a warm hand on Aro's shoulder. "On your orders, boss."
Aro let out a long breath. It really was almost over. He was scared. For Asura, for himself, for all the others. The final and most terrible monstrosity of the Vault lay ahead and once again, he would walk them to it.
And one more time, he's walk them away from it. They'd beat this. If it's the last thing he ever does and even if the Vex ensured that he would never be remembered for it, they would see the dawn again.
All of them.
"Crona. Take point. The rest, we watch her back." He drew Hawkmoon from his back. "Let's move out."
"Damn it!" Wrath(A) fell to the ground with a loud clatter. His body was practically smoking. He shakily got to his feet before falling back down. He punched the ground hard, "Damn it!" He screamed again.
"That's enough." Wrath(K) announced rolling his shoulders.
"No!" The smaller Exo roared, "We can't stop!"
"I've decided."
"Can't you feel it?!" Wrath(A) weakly got into sitting position and fell back against one of the pillars. "They're coming. They're coming!"
"Of course I do," Wrath(K) crosses his arms. "I could feel it. When they killed the Templar and the Gorgons. They'll be here soon."
"So we can't stop!" He cried, "I can't still be this! I need to be me!"
"You need to rest," Wrath(K) ordered with an tone that left no room for further questioning, "And prepare yourself."
Wrath(A) huffed loudly and started to rock back and forth. The same images. The blood, the blinding smoke. But every time, the pain worsened. He was sick of this shit.
And when the screaming, burning pain of the memories finally went away, all he could hear after was Asura laughing at him. He felt all Wrath(A) felt, saw everything he did and still he found it in himself to laugh at his misery.
"I'm surprised with you, Wrath(A)," he said through his laughter, "You show so much talent and intelligence in fights but you still haven't figured it out yet."
"Figured what out?" He snapped back.
"It hurts. Your actions. The idea that you could be capable of such monstrosities. It's how I've felt ever since Diana told me." Asura explained it like he was talking to a child. "You're not as heartless as I thought. Or as you like to tell yourself."
"I did not care back then. Why the FUCK would I care now?! WHY?!"
"That's not rhetorical, is it? You're really asking me?" Asura asked, laughing softly. "Fine. I can tell you. Honestly, I'm happy to. I've had a lot of time to think about it."
The world went still and suddenly fell away. Wrath(A) was standing now, the universe around him a never ending black.
"It's funny honestly," Asura's voice echoed in the ether. Wrath(A) saw another version of him materialize before his eyes, sitting down, cross legged like he was. The green Exo stood, rolled his shoulders and then opened his eyes. Warm pink stared into Wrath(A)'s cold red. "Everything you've done to try and separate us has only brought us closer together. Keep it up, we might become one person again. I wouldn't mind normally but after everything you've done, the thought of having to be even closer to you makes me sick."
Wrath(A)'s hands balled and shook.
"I told you they would come, didn't I?" Asura asked, "Five Guardians risked death and worse for me, a Hunter, an Exo, a machine." He clasped his hands behind his back, pacing around. There was a bounce in his step as if everything that had happened never did. "You were wrong. As stupid as an idea it was, they're here. For me, Wrath(A)." Asura laughed again, "For us. They care about me, they love me enough to put up with an asshole like you. And the thought stings doesn't it? You entire reason for coming here was survival. You refuse to die, much less for people who 'hate' you or those like you. And it's a problem how we're treated, of course, but there are people out there who care about me. And I care enough about them to weather whatever the world throws at me."
"Do you plan on making a point?"
"My point is…" He paused. Dramatic effect him and his idiot friends called it. "You feel guilty."
"Guilty?" Wrath(A) asked only once before he broke out in raucous laughter, "Guilty?! That-that's your conclusion?!" He howled.
"It is." Asura remained completely calm. "Because every time I mention Aro or Crona, it stings. I can feel it. In here." He put his hand to his chest. "That's the guilt, Wrath. You think of them and what they are putting themselves through just to find me and you wish you could've experienced something like it. Just once."
"But to be honest, I think you did," he continued, "It may have been something small and forgettable but I'm sure you did. Maybe it was the Darkness that drove you to forget but now when you look at the blood and bodies of the dead young in that base, now that the Darkness no longer clouds your mind like it did before, you feel the horror as I would. As Diana did. You were angry, you were hurt and you deserved justice for your hurt. But you knew this wasn't the way."
"They deserves everything they got!"
"No they did not! No one does!" Asura argued back, "You took your pain and hurt out on everyone, regardless of how each person treated you. Flesh and blood or metal and circuits, in your eyes, everyone deserved to suffer because you had. And that is never right."
Asura slowly walked closer and closer to Wrath(A), footsteps echoing in their shared mind. "I refuse to let my pain be the only thing that drives me like you have. I refuse to spend the rest of my life miserable and lonely, using the pain inflicted on me as an excuse to hurt people like you did!" He was in Wrath(A)'s face now, foreheads nearly bumping together. "I came into this world with nothing and no one but my Ghost. I found a family. And now, they'll find me. They'll find us. They will beat you. And I will go home, no matter what."
Wrath(A) grabbed Asura by the shirt and pulled him forward, "They'll find us, alright. And when they do, Asura, you are going to beg. Beg as I open Crona's throat and push her into the nothingness under our feet. Beg as I cut off Daniel's and Erek's heads and deliver them to their families. Beg as I gouge out the lights of Kayla's eyes. Beg as I deliver Aro to Pride! Beg as crush your Ghost to pieces with my bare hands!" He was screaming now. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of your begging as I do it anyway."
He shoved Asura away. The Exo barely blinked as he swaggered back, a smug look in his eyes. He walked back to where he had been at the start and sat down again. "We'll see," was all he said.
The Vault reappeared and Wrath(A) blinked several times to readjust. Little time had passed but Wrath(K) was staring at him now.
Wrath(A) pulled his hood further over his head and hunched in on himself. "Yes," he said aloud to himself, "We will."
