Chapter 19: Shot to the heart!
As if Cayde-6 had tempted the universe, Alex was partly better overnight. He still had memories to sort through, but his head was clear enough for him to focus on the task at hand. When asked what his memories were about by the Hunter Vanguard, the Reaper replied that he would answer when all the memories were sorted out and organized. Cortona still felt a bit concerned about him, however.
When it was revealed that the Sin duo were going to attack the Black Garden, Cortona wanted to join in only to be rejected outright due to her still being a rookie Guardian. She didn't like it, but accepted it begrudgingly. For some reason, she felt a large amount of envy at the fact that her apparent teammates were off having fun while she was cooped up in the Tower.
On the bright side, Alex was more than willing to let her spend time with Nyx while they were away, the little Worm having grown on her in a rather short time. Which leads us to what's happening between the Exo woman and converted Hive Worm now…
"You want it, Nyx? You want it, Nyx? Go on, get it! Get it!" Cortona said encouragingly as she waved a string toy across the floor for Nyx to chase, the Worm showing that having a plump body didn't affect her mobility as she chased the string across the floor. When the moment presented itself, the female worm lunged at its target and grabbed it with her mouth. She then yanked it free of Cortona's hand and ran off with it, much to her amusement. When she stopped laughing, she started thinking.
"I wonder what Alex and Vulcan are up to right now…" She mused before shrugging and continued playing with Nyx.
-Mars, near the Black Garden's gateway-
Gunfire filled the Martian air as Alex and Vulcan shot their way through Vex after Vex to reach the warpgate. With a well placed shot from Alex, the sole Hydra of the guard detail fell and exploded.
"Okay, now that those are scrapped, let's get into the garden." The Exo said as he walked to the gate, Vulcan right behind him.
"Right… You know, I've started to notice something rather odd about Cortona." Vulcan said as they attempted to open the gate.
"And what's that?" Alex asked.
"She's very quick to become jealous, so much so that you'd think she was perpetually in a constant state of envy." The Titan noted. Alex hummed at his words.
"Yeah, I noticed it, too. When I was talking to Holliday, I saw Cortona giving her a jealous glare out of the corner of my optic." The male Exo replied.
"Anything in those recovered memories of yours hint at any possibilities?" The Lion Sin asked as they stopped trying to open the gate for the moment.
"Yeah… Such as that I used to be human. And so was Cortona. We both contracted a sort of neurological disease that could have killed us in days. Not even the most advanced techniques of the Golden Age could cure it. So we were turned into Exos." The Hunter began.
"But whereas I was able to undergo the process without problem, Cortona kept suffering from DER, so her systems constantly had to reboot her. Basically making her start over with zero memory of her life before each reboot. And if she remembers any of them, she only has three days until another reboot has to occur." He then added. "We also apparently used to be lovers."
Vulcan listened to his friend's words and felt his heart break. To be rebooted every three days, and remember nothing afterwards… She was slowly being robbed of her very life by her own affliction. The fact that they were lovers made his heart break even further.
"Alex… I am so very sorry." He said sadly as he placed a hand on the Hunter's shoulder. "An unending cycle of Eternal Life and Eternal Reincarnation… I cannot fathom how that must feel."
"I hope you never have to." Alex replied solemnly.
Before anything else could be said, the warpgate suddenly powered up. Seeing this, the Sin duo looked at each other before nodding and dashed into the gate.
-Black Garden-
Alex and Vulcan staggered as they emerged at… Wherever they were at now. "I have no idea where we are right now." Snake said as they started walking again.
They continued on and raised their weapons when they saw Vex, but upon closer inspection, the case was different with them. For one thing, they were covered from head to toe in green moss and showed no sign of coming online.
"They're in some kind of weird stasis." Sentry noted.
"Why though?" Alex wondered.
"Let's not look a gift Vex in the mouth, okay dumbass?" Snake hissed.
"Its non-existent mouth?" Alex joked with a grin as they moved on.
"... Shut up." Snake muttered.
As they continued, they saw more Vex that were sleeping but, as with all things, there were some that lied in wait for intruders to ambush. This was proven true when some Vex that looked like they were in stasis suddenly stood upright and began shooting at them.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Alex exclaimed in irritation as he shot a pair of Goblins in their cores.
"I knew it was just a matter of time." Vulcan growled as he threw a grenade at a Minotaur that came around the corner.
"I'm picking a massive energy signal just around this bend. That should be the heart!" Sentry said as the two guardians traversed onwards past the moss covered Vex.
The Sin duo continued forward and saw a large chasm which they assumed was created by the Vex. It had odd looking flowers growing around it, flowers of red and white, which were shaped like Ghosts.
"Okay, that's a little disturbing." Alex commented with a shudder.
"This place, it's an abomination against nature." Vulcan agreed.
"All the more reason to destroy the heart." Snake stated.
As they continued forward, they soon came upon a giant staircase that led downward to some sort of courtyard, which had three large Vex statues at three different points, many moss covered Vex in a stasis state while posed in what looked like a worshipping position. And lastly at the center was a giant black mass that constantly bulged, contracted and changed shape.
As if their presence was sensed, the Vex began coming online before turning to look at them with their glowing red optics. The two Guardians looked at their odds, but didn't feel all that deterred.
"So… think you guys can kill a god?" Snake asked.
"Only one way to find out." Alex replied as he pulled out his pacemaker and Lostvaynne.
"Fool, I am a god." Vulcan stated as the clock started ticking towards noon and he let his size and heat increase. Ax in one hand and Sunshot in the other.
"Come on, Vulcan! LET'S KICK ASS!" Alex shouted as he charged.
Vulcan then raised his ax and started charging it with his super energy. "Sun Wheel!" He yelled as he hurled his ax at the Vex and it spun in the air like a saucer, melting everything it came in contact with before he recalled it and activated his super and charged up Cruel Sun.
"Cruel Sun!" He yelled as he hurled the sun at the incoming Vex.
Meanwhile, Alex had just killed a trio of Harpies when Vulcan threw his Cruel Sun and killed off the remaining Vex as a result. Just when they thought they were done, the dark heart suddenly sent some energy into one of the statues. When that happened, its pedestal began to lower as the upper half of it turned around.
"The heart is bringing that statue to life!" Snake exclaimed in alarm.
Right after that, the stone got blasted off and revealed the giant Minotaur underneath that pulsed with dark energy. It took one look at them before firing the torch hammer it wielded… though where it came from is a mystery.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Alex yelled as he dove out of the way using his class skill: dodge and Vulcan sent up a Titan barrier. The two looked over their cover and saw that the creature's yellow health bar was much larger than any other they had seen previously.
"Traveler almighty! How many hit points does this bitch have?!" The Exo yelled as he ducked back to avoid getting hit.
"More than anyone would like! We're gonna have to get creative here!" Sentry said over the gunfire. That's when something clicked in Alex's head.
"How long until noon?" He asked in spite of the Minotaur's constant barrage.
"Exactly three minutes!" Vulcan called back as he used his exotic grenade launcher to drive back the Minotaur and its advancing goblin minions.
"Shit… I was hoping to save this for later, but it looks like I have no choice!" The Dragon Sin growled before he activated his scythe and went on a harvest. He took out the Goblins and Hobgoblins first before he sliced off one of the giant Minotaur's feet, causing it to fall to a knee. After this, he cut off the arm holding the torch hammer just in time for his super to be depleted.
With the massive arm cannon in tow he turned around mid air and blasted the creature's core with its own weapon, killing it instantly. But the fight wasn't over yet, because the heart activated another statue. This one was in the shape of a Hobgoblin (at least its head was) and had Harpies as its foot soldiers. They still had two minutes till noon.
"Okay, I'm so taking some time off after this!" Alex muttered as he brought Gjallarhorn out and fired a pair of rockets at the Harpies, killing them in the blink of an eye. The large Minotaur also took its fair share of damage from the micro missiles that came out of the rockets.
"Same here!" Vulcan yelled as he summoned his ax and charged, hacking through Vex like a lumberjack in a forest. After enough time, there was only one minute left on the clock, so Alex decided to move this along.
"Time to step up my game!" He said as he drew Lostvaynne and entered his Assault Mode. The action actually caused the large Minotaur to pause, as if being caught off guard… A foolish mistake.
Capitalizing on the opening, the Exo immediately summoned his hard light clones and blurred before appearing on the other side in a crouch, his clones disappearing as soon as this was done.
"A Million Divine Slashes!" He yelled as he sheathed his large knife. As soon as he did that, millions of slashes appeared on the entire body of his target, causing it to shriek in pain before it fell to pieces.
"The heart's dying! Keep it up!" Snake yelled as Alex stood up, still in his Assault Mode while the heart activated the last statue, a Minotaur that summoned more of its brethren.
Alex slowly closed his optics as he condensed some of the energy from his Assault Mode to a single point, causing several purple/black orbs to pop out of him. Willing them to swirl around him, they formed a dome which blocked every attack fired at him, then he swung his arm towards the giant robot.
"Black Bullet: Infinite Gatlin!" He yelled as the orbs flew at the army of Vex.
The result was something that Vulcan would never forget. The orbs just eviscerated the Vex they came in contact with while dealing some serious damage to the Minotaur that left it on its knees.
And at that moment, it struck high noon. Vulcan grew to his maximum height of ten feet eleven inches and slung his ax over his shoulder as he walked towards the kneeling Minotaur, all while pointing towards the sky as fire and heat surrounded his entire body.
"The time has come." He said as he stepped up to the Minotaur, the robot raising its head, making it clear that currently they were at eye level, the creature's metal skin melting from the intense heat that was just inches away from it.
"Tell me, are you ready to die?" The impossibly overpowered man asked.
The Minotaur let out a strangled machine noise in response. "Good." Vulcan said as he raised his hand and slowly brought it down. "Divine Blade: Vulcanus!" The attack immediately caused a large blade of heat to drive down onto the large Vex, slicing it in half.
Immediately after the demise of the final Vex defender, the dark heart began to compact itself, as if it was struggling to contain something. It remained in this state for a few moments before it exploded in a massive blast of light, causing the Sin duo to cover their eyes and optics respectively. Once the light died down, they blinked the spots out of their vision and looked around before noticing how the place seemed… brighter.
"We've done it. The heart is dead, the darkness is fading and light is returning to the Traveler! The Speaker is calling us home." Snake said as he came out of Alex's inventory to look around.
"Then let's go home." Alex said as he transmatted back to his ship, Vulcan following suit.
-The Tower, four hours later-
Alex and Vulcan stood in the Tower hanger, not really caring to attend the speech the Speaker was giving. As they looked at the Traveler, they heard footsteps heading in their direction. Turning, they were surprised to see the same Exo Stranger from Venus.
"Big day for pretty speeches and medals." She mused.
"We don't particularly care for those, but yeah." Alex shrugged.
The Stranger just ignored his words as she looked at the Traveler.
"I came from a world where Darkness won the battle. I had hoped that if I changed the past, things might be different." She then turned to the two. "You two make me feel that I made the right choice."
"And we will continue to do so." Vulcan declared, Alex nodding in agreement.
The Stranger chuckled before she took her pulse rifle and handed it to Alex. "I expect nothing less. Here, take this, to help you on your journey." She told her fellow Exo.
Alex took the pulse rifle with a surprised look in his optics. He looked it over briefly before turning back to the Stranger. "Thank you… Sorry, I never really got your name." He told her.
She just chuckled before she addressed him again. "Elsie, Elsie Bray." She introduced herself, much to his shock.
"Bray? As in the Bray family? You're related to Ana Bray, aren't you?" He asked.
"Got it in one." She confirmed. She then peered out to the Traveler again. "I've seen terrible things born out in the Darkness. Every moment just brings them closer." She said absently. She then walked forward as she transmatted back to wherever she came from.
"So Ana Bray has a sister, huh? I wonder how she became an Exo?" Snake wondered aloud.
"Probably a similar case like with me and Cortona." He mused before looking down. "I hope those reboot cycles won't haunt her anymore." He said in a somewhat downtrodden tone.
"I hope so, too." Vulcan said in agreement as he patted his friend's shoulder. After a moment of silence, Alex put The Stranger's Rifle on his back before he started walking.
"I'll see you whenever. I'm gonna enjoy my time off." He called back to the Titan.
"And I'm going to take some time to go to the Reef." Vulcan nodded as he walked in the opposite direction and transmatted into his ship before flying off to the Reef.
(Elsewhere)
In a House of Exiles hideaway, a Dreg was gently placing a very large egg into some sort of kitbashed incubator. When the low rank Fallen was sure the egg was firmly secured, he just as gently closed the lid to the machine. He knew that being careful was paramount so as to avoid the wrath of his Kell.
Saphirix watched as her young was put in its resting place, and sighed sadly, her heart tightening with grief and worry that her beloved would not be able to witness the birth of his first born.
Meanwhile, in the Prison of Elders, a massive Fallen, twice the size of Saphirix who had two horns on his shoulders and was covered in a blue exoskeleton and brown fur, looked up at the stars from his cell in longing. This was Skolas the Rabbid, and his thoughts now turned to thoughts of his dearest before his eyes stung with moisture and he let out a loud grief filled howl which caused an uproar in every cell within earshot.
Petra witnessed this, as well as Variks. "We must call upon Guardian soon, yes?" The Eliksni practicinar asked his Awoken companion.
"Correct. Hearing Skolas let out a howl like that actually hurts me. I… I can't stand it." Petra confessed as she gritted her teeth.
"Mmm. Makes two of us." Variks nodded in agreement as the howling of the grieving Kell grew louder.
Author note:
Dragon Emperor0: I know I know, it's a corny ending. But what do you expect? I love showing how it's not just the mothers are loving, it's also the dads. Plus it's Father's Day weekend, so yeah.
ThermalsniperN7: And this just gave me a good idea for a Father's day special. It'll probably be a bit late, though.