Heeeeeellllooooo and welcome back! Almost missed my deadline with this chapter.

7.5K words! That's a new record. Now then before we get started I've got a few reviews to read through then we'll get right into the chapter.

Dear NabucodonosorV, did I spell that right? - How would Louise get back to Helkangai? A very good question, my best guess would be the same way she arrived. It's a shame she forgot how that happened, how vexing.

Dear xcxcxcx - A great question however in my opinion when Louise's Ghost revived her a large amount of her genetics are already reprinted to make her Immortal and capable of utilizing the light. I also believe that when she was given her light it mixed with her magic making it difficult to tell the two apart. Besides, she wouldn't be able to use Helkangai magic without a proper fulcrum, but I do wonder what would happen if she did…

That's all for this time I will be uploading Louise summons a Titan next week so the next chapter here will be in two weeks see you all then!

Mercury Surface - Uncharted town - 14 Years since Risen

A calm desolate town remained devoid of humanity long since abandoned following the collapse, there was no organic life to be found, no plants, no flora, no flesh and blood beings to walk the sands, only the relentless sentient machines known as the Vex. Small patrols of Goblins and Harpies floated about searching for any signs of intruders. During the dark age, it would be rare to find such a sight of Vex patrolling abandoned towns having little need to do so. However, that had all changed when a certain anomaly had appeared on their radar and infiltrated one of their primary facilities on the planet. Since then the anomaly had been wreaking havoc on their patrols performing hit and run operations on various checkpoints and cities at seemingly random intervals. It had become quite the nuisance, in response, the Vex had been forced to leave more units and simple patrol patterns to discourage such activities. The only reported mild success, the anomaly had limited their open confrontations and reduced its open skirmishes with the Vex significantly, unfortunately, it still hasn't ceased entirely.

Proof of this was lying prone behind a nearby sand dune not two kilometers from the outskirts of town…

Louise was struggling to get a better view of the town from her position, she was currently stuck on her stomach in the middle of Mercury's week-long midday sun. She was very grateful to Saito for dying her robes the same color as the sand to help her blend in, despite that she still hated it. Her enhanced eyesight while certainly impressive did not grant her clairvoyance. While she could clearly see through the windows of the buildings into an apartment living room from over two kilometers away, she could hardly see anything beyond that. Hence why she was making use of a pair of binoculars she pillaged from a Fallen camp a while back, the only problem with the goggles was they were designed to work with Eliksni biology which had four eyes as opposed to the humans two eyes. Making focusing on an object exceptionally frustrating.

She was really regretting damaging the scope on the line rifle she took off a vandal a while back. She still hadn't fully adjusted to her sudden increase in strength she "lightly tapped" the scope of the rifle to fix it. Her "light tap" had crushed the scope rendering it useless, the rifle still worked and she was able to remove a scrap of the scope in favor of the weapons iron sights but it was no more of a very slow firing scout rifle rather than a long-range sniper.

Returning her focus to her objective she started focusing in on the Vex patrols once more, the nice thing about Vex was also their most annoying aspect, they operate on a hive mind network. Meaning they all think exactly the same, their patrols are predetermined making them easy to memorize, the downside is that if one unit spots her or is taken out of the network, every other unit within range will immediately lock on to her position. Lowering the goggles from her eyes she began drumming her fingers on their surface, she'd seen enough of their patrols to know how they operate but if she wanted to reach her objective in the town she would be forced to destroy the units in front of the entrance to the building.

'The arc superconductor we're looking for is being stored in the town's industrial district, although it hardly qualifies as an industrial district it's just the town's power grid.' Her Ghost Saito chimed in. 'Still, the Vex have undoubtedly taken notice of its presence. We are quite lucky they did too, if it had been the Fallen they would have already salvaged it for their own use.'

"Yes, I suppose that's one good thing we can count on, it's a shame we can't sneak past them." Doing a quick check on her ammunition she grimaced. "I don't think we have enough ammo to survive a prolonged firefight. Unless we get seriously lucky and one of them happens to be carrying an enormous amount of decent quality glimmer you can convert, I don't like our chances" Louise added. "Still, if, or I suppose when we do get into a fight can you do me a favor and collect some more of that Vex, what's it called, radiolacrima?"

'Radiolarian and no, we need Vex milk not that, unless you fancy turning into one yourself we need to steer clear of that stuff." Saito corrected, he paused for a moment before adding "Need I remind you of the whole you burnt a large hole into the bottom of the train when you forgot to properly seal a jar of that stuff?' Saito remarked it had been quite the scare for him if the "milk" fluid had managed to melt through the floor of the train and damage the cart's axel they would have been forced to decouple the cart and lose a third of the train's carts along with it.

"It was just a small accident, one that won't happen again." Louise groaned.

Raising the binoculars to her eyes once more she started searching for a gap in the patrol routes she could take advantage of. She had already memorized the patrol routes but it never hurt to double-check, plus it also gave her an excuse to avoid Saito pointing out any more of her past mistakes. 'You mean like that one time you tried to take cover behind that one ether barr-' "ALRIGHT! Point made! Red barrels are generally explosive good to know!" Louise cut him off, sometimes she really wished he couldn't read her thoughts all the time.

Looking at the building she thought that some of them looked a little closer than before, 'Must be the goggles' She thought dismissively. Saito made no comment on the matter. Seeing no changes in the patrols she waited a good twenty more minutes until she saw an opportunity to move. The patrols all had small gaps in between them and the longest she had observed was finally coming around, spotting any pattern or subtle difference in the marching patterns of the Vex was no easy task, each of them was built exactly the same, every Vex programmed to follow the same pattern down to how they hold their weapons was perfectly replicated between each unit. It was a testament to Louise's attention to detail that she was able to spot any form of pattern. Ironically she still missed the glowing red barrels warning labels.

Making her way up from her position she placed her helmet back on her head with Saito folding up her hair for her, she then summoned her sparrow so she could cover a great distance in a short span of time. After crossing approximately two-thirds of the distance she leaped from the sparrow as Saito returned it to storage and made multiple blinks in rapid succession to cross the remaining distance, as blinking made less noise than the engine of her sparrow. Once she reached the town's edge she took cover behind the nearest building and waited for the next gap in between the Vex patrols. Counting the seconds and keeping an eye on her radar she waited until the time was right.

Listening for the telltale stomps of the Vex's metallic chassis to grow distant she made her move. First peeking around the corner to be certain they were in fact gone she leaped from her hiding spot and let her light lift her to the second floor of the adjacent building. Crouching low she scanned the room for any hobgoblins making use of the vantage point. Once she was certain she was alone she made her way to the opposite window of the building to get a clear view of the street, once she was satisfied she blinked into the next building adjacent to her and repeated the process. She continued jumping from building to building until she was in front of her objective. There were still the pair of two goblins guarding the entrance as still as statues, the only indication they were even functional were their single glowing red eye in the center of their faces.

Quickly scanning the building she caught sight of a broken-in window on the second floor, a perfect entrance. Sparing one final glance at the two Vex guarding the entrance she sent a quick prayer to the Traveler and blinked into the open window. While her stealth had improved immensely over the years she still couldn't do much about the noise generated by her casually tearing a hole in the fabric of reality, what she could do was improve the distance and accuracy upon which she traveled. Landing with her feet barely a millimeter of the ground her feet made no sound when they made contact with the metal gangway beneath her. Grinning at her success she took in her surroundings. The building was a large warehouse with an enormous amount of empty space, looking around she noticed evidence of missing machinery, it seems that the Vex had already begun looting the place before she showed up. 'So much for them not taking an interest' Louise thought grimly. Glancing around she found what she had been looking for, the arc superconductor. It seemed relatively intact at this time, but it looked like the vex were getting ready to transport it someplace else. They seemed to be carefully deconstructing the shell that contained the superconductor, great that saved her the trouble of doing it herself. She could spare a second or two for them to open the case for her, but she needed to make sure she dealt with them just before it opened, otherwise she risked them simple zapping it away the moment they had a clear sight of it.

The moment they had a clear sight of it. Louise grinned she had just the right idea, if they intended to teleport it clear as soon as it was exposed then why couldn't she just have Saito do the exact same while she drew their fire. A quick headcount revealed a total of five vex standing in front of the Casing, a well-placed grenade would do the trick but if she wasn't extremely precise she may end up destroying their objective as well, with this in mind she wanted to try out something new, if it worked she could have her grenade primed for a bigger enemy like say, a minotaur that decides to stop by. Opening her mouth to explain she was abruptly cut off 'I know what you're going to suggest and I already don't like it.' Saito grumbled 'but I don't have any better ideas so, I guess I really don't have a choice than either. Right, let's get this over with.'

Louise had repositioned herself to one of the steel support beams holding up the roof of the warehouse, giving her a nice view of the Vex below her. However now in place of her usual auto rifle, she had a large bronze colored spear held firmly in her grasp. The spear she'd named 'Solar Flare', was her highest quality weapon she had successfully forged herself. The weapon, while not terribly ornate, was forged from various metals originating from Vex units she'd destroyed in the field, superheated using her solar abilities, and forged into a spear of her own personal make.

She watched as Saito floated over to his position above the container holding the superconductor to observe their progress. Once he saw an opportunity or the Vex stopped cutting he was to ping Louise so she could create the diversion.

A matter of seconds later the vex stopped cutting open the containment unit and peeled away the protective casing housing their objective. Not wanting to give the Vex an opportunity he shot down to transmat the core while he simultaneously pinged Louise. She subsequently leaped from her hiding place with her spear held to her cheek positioned like a javelin, with a grunt of effort she twisted her body into a spin and hurled it at the floor beneath her right in the middle of Vex. Once the spear made contact with the ground below it discharged all of its pent-up solar energy in a tidal wave of flames that spewed from its tip and up its shaft. The vex unit standing next to the spear's point of impact was instantly incinerated by the blast while the other four while badly damaged remained partially operational. Louise Landed next to the spear a moment later, tearing the spear from the ground she twirled it in her arms finishing two more Vex close to her before thrusting once in front of her to destroy one unit's Radiolarian core, and one final time to her right to finish the last Goblin. Saito had already flown himself back up to the rafters the moment he had secured the core to avoid getting caught in the blast, even if he hadn't made it back to the rafters in time Louise had held back enough with her attack so that he would only get some scorch marks on his shell.

Louise's smile was brighter than the flames she had just unleashed as she landed to collect her spear, the main reason she had forged this spear was for it to act as a medium for her to use her solar super ability, Dawnblade. Saito had explained it to her many times but she always had trouble drawing out the blade and maintaining it after a single swing. Typically it either shattered itself into many little pieces or simply fizzled out, with her spear however she was capable of channeling a large amount of solar energy into the weapon and charging it like a capacitor to discharge upon her enemies. Saito had scoffed when he first witnessed her compromise, chuckling at the fact that of course, she would find another way to create another technique as deadly to their enemies as it was to them. Louise had coincidentally begun practicing stabbing small floating objects with her spear that same day.

Holstering the spear she had Saito she mentally relayed to Saito to bring out her auto rifle, which she instinctively pointed at the door. She'd kicked the hornet's nest and now they were about to come out buzzing. Taking a deep breath she broadened her focus, the front door to the facility was still intact, not opening and not currently being busted down. Something was really, really wrong.

Glancing at her radar she saw that there was enemy activity directly in front of her cone of vision, but it was too far away to be inside the facility. There was also some to her left, and right, and even behind her, she was completely surrounded. "Damn" She cursed, it was only a matter of time before every Vex unit in the city and beyond were sitting right outside the walls of this facility. Louise's mind was racing now, she was not a strategist, she knew how to be creative when infiltrating Vex controlled cities, but she was not nearly as crafty nor as cunning as a hunter. She had expected the units to just close in on her like mindless machines swarming their target's last known position where she could nova bomb a pathway through then make a break for the town's outskirts.

"Saito any ideas?" She inquired with her partner.

'Uh, well I suppose if we try the usual Nova Bomb and run, they'll just catch up to us or cut us off before we can even get out, hmmm...' Saito trailed off.

While he continued his train of thought Louise looked around the room for anything she might have missed on her way in, her gaze halted on the window she entered from.

"Hey Saito, how about the same way we came in." she casually suggested. Her suggestion wasn't bad, she had managed to make it this far undetected by blinking from building to building. As long as she had a clear line of sight she could easily cross the distance in an instant, she just had to be careful not to get seen through the window, or did she? If they saw her in one window she could blink to the next one down and use that one to get a clear line of sight while the Vex were preoccupied with where they last spotted her.

'It's plausible, but we need to be careful, I doubt the surrounding buildings are empty now that they know we're here. You might want to expect a hobgoblin or two.' Saito mentioned 'Also you might want to hurry, the Vex are never the type to wait for no reason. I'd wager they are just stalling us until something bigger shows up.'

Louise nodded and blinked up to the gangway adjacent to the windows. Her hands held her rifle in a death grip, if she died now Saito would be exposed and she doubted the Vex were going to wait for him to bring her back again, she needed to get this right on the first try. Taking one deep breath to calm her nerves, she pictured her plan in her mind, the moment she exposed herself she would have a split second to blink to the other exposed window and then even less time to blink to an adjacent building.

'Do you want a countdown?' Saito offered.

'Yeah, I think I'd appreciate one' Louise replied with a nod.

'Alright, here we go, 3… 2… 1… NOW!'

Louise Jumped into sight, rifle raised, and almost froze when she came face to face with a harpy unit scanning the window. Not wanting to lose her advantage she immediately began spraying, her auto rifles rounds shattering the window and shredding the Harpy units eyes, and piercing its fins turning them into swiss cheese. A second later the unit lost control as its system began to fail to leave it powerless to keep itself afloat collapsing in a metal heap of scrap metal. Ducking back behind the wall as the dozen or so units all began to return fire she prepared the next step in her plan.

'Here we go, deep breaths, don't think about the journey, just keep a clear view of your destination.' Louise gripped her rifle fearing she might lose it in the void if she wasn't careful, before blinking once… twice in the span of a single second she had blinked twice in rapid succession, a new record for her. She could dwell on her achievements later right now she needed to escape. A quick glance around the room revealed a single hobgoblin about twenty paces from her firing out of an open window likely firing at the widow she was just in. She was tempted for a moment to shove it out of the window in an act of spite as she had a personal grudge against these specific units killing her from afar, but she thought better of it, and under the cover of the noise of all the gunfire snuck out of the room. The building seemed to be an old office block, making her way out of the room she was in; she made her way to the nearest window on the opposite side of the building for a quick escape. Once she had a clearer view she blinked out of the building and into the next one across the street clear from Vex sight.

The next room was completely clear of Vex, but the Harpies flying about just outside the windows were more than a little concerning.

'They seem to have set up a five-block perimeter around the warehouse we just looted, huh they really didn't want us getting away. I suppose that's what happens when you build a reputation for being a thorn in their side for so long.' Saito commented.

Louise acknowledged his advice and continued to blink from building to building until they were finally on the outskirts of town. A quick radar check revealed no contacts were close by meaning their plan had worked, they were in the clear. Hopping down from the fourteenth floor of the building Louise showed no fear as she glided down to the ground. Sparing a single glance over her shoulder she gestured for Saito to summon her sparrow so they could begin making their way back to the train. The gesture was unnecessary as she could simply ask through her mental link but she liked signaling with her hands when she could, it just felt more natural to her.

Hopping aboard her sparrow she made her way away from the town. Her sparrow seemed to jerk to the side for a moment before Louise got it back under control. "Damn beast" She muttered under her breath.

The ride to the train was only a few minutes as they rarely risked going any further from the train lest they get lost or their only home comes under attack while they are away. Pulling her sparrow up next to her favorite car she dismounted and let Saito return the sparrow to storage.

Opening the door allowed the sunlight to pill through illuminating the room. The room was not what a person would expect to find in a rusted train car, the walls were all cleaned of their rust and dirt leaving a polished metallic white. In one corner there was a desk and chair with a candle resting atop it, sitting to its side was a large bookshelf filled with Louise's favorites texts and novels. The wall opposite her desk was covered in sketches and drawings of theories and occasionally there was a sketch of an old castle with pointed towers. The opposite end had three bookshelves making up two aisles of books similar to a library because Louise just always seemed to collect any books she could get her hands on. Of course, her storage filled up very quickly and she was forced to start storing them physically, hence her bookshelves. Saito also had a tendency to question her choice of lighting being the candles, Louise simply replied she preferred them to electric lights, they felt more natural to her, she also found their presence rather comfortable if not a little nostalgic.

"Alright I'm going to go replace the superconductor in the font of the train, would you like me to recommend a book before I go?" Saito piped up in a cheerful tone.

"No, I think I might draw some more," Louise replied, her tone seemed a little, sad. Saito picked up on her tone.

"You're gonna try and draw her again?" Saito asked somberly.

Louise only nodded before removing her helmet and making her way to her desk. Saito looked like he wanted to say more, but he only nodded before turning to make his way to the front of the train. He knew the matter was sensitive, Louise had been plagued by dreams of a familiar face, one that she knew she had refused to forget. He didn't understand at first until she described it to him, he suspected it was a family member of hers before she passed away. It was disheartening to know that the chances of them still being around were incredibly slim. He knew that they weren't just traveling mercury to hide from the Vex anymore, they were also searching, searching for Louise's past. Saito knew that Guardian's were not supposed to possess any memory of their past, but Louise seemed to be an exception to this rule. Under normal circumstances, he would have gotten her to give up on their search but the possibility of their still being humans on the planet kept him going, Louise only being dead for a matter of days only proved this. Someone as young as her would not be traveling alone unless she was either abandoned, or she was the sole survivor; neither possibility was a pleasant one.

Saito could only sigh as he began to input the transmat coordinates for the front of the train, it was best not to think about it too much, their priority right now was survival and holding on to the loose hope they could get off the planet. Suddenly he received a ping on his radio, turning to Louise he was about to tell her off for using the radio as he hadn't even left the room yet when he noticed she didn't have her helmet on and she wasn't the one on the radio. He performed a quick trace of the signal to locate its origin and allegiance, once he identified it he froze.

Louise knew something was up when she didn't hear the telltale sound of Saito transmitting himself. Craning her neck she looked over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't just missed the noise, once she saw him however she knew for certain something was up. Saito never sat perfectly still unless something was very wrong, her hands shot for her auto rifle leaning against her desk, within the span of two seconds she had checked the magazine disabled the safety and had taken cover against the wall of the carts open door with her eyes scanning the horizon for enemy activity.

"Saito, what is it." She asked in a hushed tone. "Fallen? Vex?"

"Neither, it's human," Saito replied. "There's a Guardian's ship overhead!"

"What?" Louise asked in disbelief, fourteen years they had been stuck here, and in that time there hasn't been a single patrol overhead, no radio contact, and no activity. She had given up on gambling on the extremely low possibility of it occurring.

"Hang on, her helmet you're gonna want to listen in," Saito said quickly re-equipping her helmet onto her head.

Louise listened to static for a few seconds while Saito honed in on the signal, as he did the static began to clear and she could hear the sounds of a male voice on the other end. "This is Guardian Atlas of the Iron Lords, I am picking up on a signal from a Ghost Identify yourself."

"This is Ghost Saito I hear you, and did you say Iron Lords?" Saito replied with barely contained excitement. During his time in the Last city he'd heard stories about the Iron Lords and their feats, needless to say, he was a pretty big fan.

"That is correct little light, I don't recall any other Guardians being assigned patrols here, are you stranded?" The voice now identified as Atlas asked.

"That's correct, our ship was totaled on arrival, we could really a-ack" Saito was abruptly cut off.

"Saito, don't you mean your ship? Our ship seems to imply I was the one that crashed it." Louise asked with a cold tone.

"Is everything alright down there! Saito what's going on!?" Atlas asked worriedly. Saito in his excitement had neglected to patch Louise's comms though making it seems like Saito had just been attacked.

"It's fine! Sorry, just a minor miscommunication between me and my Guardian, ehe-he. Hang on I'll patch her through." Saito responded quickly and a little flustered.

"R-right then, while you do that could please also send your coordinates so we can organize a pickup," Atlas responded a little concerned.

"My apologies, Lord Atlas my Ghost and I had a slight disagreement, I assure you it has been cleared up. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Guardian Louise of the planet Mercury, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, we look forward to greeting you on the surface." Loise spoke in a cold sing-song voice that Saito had never heard her use before in the entire fourteen years he'd known her. It sounded both very respectful and absolutely terrifying at the same time.

"...J-Just Atlas will do, I have your coordinates and will be landing shortly," Atlas replied after a brief moment before cutting the connection leaving Saito to stare at Louise in disbelief.

"Um, Louise you feeling alright?" Saito asked, Louise currently had her head in her hands.

"Fine fine, I just, urgh I don't know why I suddenly spoke like that. It's just when he said he was a Lord it just feels like it flipped a switch in my head." Louise groaned.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better you at least sounded very gro- er very formal." Saito Quickly caught himself remembering how sensitive Louise can be regarding her appearance.

Louise looked at Saito but only sighed, "Let's just meet this Atlas person, he at least sounds nice. Do you have any idea when he's getting here?"

"Should be any second now, although… we should probably radio him to let him know we're aboard the train," Saito commented.

"Right, um, hey Saito?" Louise asked timidly "It's just occurred to me I have no idea how to use the radio to contact anyone other than you…"

"Ah, yes that would actually make a lot of sense, here it works like this…"

Atlas was concerned to be putting it lightly. As an Iron Lord, he had faced many trials and tribulations in his time, he had even stood by his brothers and sisters to put down the warlords that threatened the people of the last city. It was for this reason that the voice on the other end of the radio concerned him, he had been forced to take patrol duty while the rest of the Iron Lords went out on a mission of their own because he had failed to follow a direct order from Lord Saladin. Normally this could result in him being stripped of his title, but his actions had been deemed heroic, sadly it did not relieve him of his punishment. Now here he was on Mercury to pick up a stranded risen who just may be a warlord if her tone of voice was anything to go off of.

'Hey, Gaea you've been awfully quiet recently, care to share your thoughts on our soon to be guest?' Atlas inquired to his Ghost seeking a second opinion on the matter at hand.

'Well, I think it's safe to assume she isn't a Warlord or she would not have laid claim to the title of Guardian. Still, I don't have any records of anyone going by the name of Louise back at the tower, but I also don't know of any warlords going by the name of Louise either, for now, let's just approach with caution, her Ghost seemed friendly enough at the very least.' A soft motherly voice echoed in Atlas's head, the voice of his ghost Gaea.

'Hmm, I suppose so.' Atlas let the matter slide for now, but the tone of the "Guardians voice echoed in his head, it was nerve-wracking how practiced and calm the voice was. It sounded to him like the Risen had a great deal of experience in dealing with very powerful people.

As if on cue his radio crackled to life again, it seemed the "Guardian" had more to say.

"Ahem, umm Lo- er Atlas, we just wanted to inform you that we have taken refuge in a train, and we would like to kindly request you not fire upon it when you see it. It would be very much appreciated." The Guardian known as Louise spoke again, this time in a much more neutral tone of voice.

"Copy that we will be making our approach shortly," Atlas replied before Louise cut the connection once more.

"Why would she be in possession of a train? Gaea do we have any records of that at least?" Atlas inquired, a Risen slipping through the cracks of information was very common, but something as big as a train was pretty unusual.

'No, this one I'm sure of, we've never even attempted to steal such an asset nor do we have any on record. Still, again the whole 'records' system is still very new so it could have just not been recorded but I find that abysmally unlikely.' Gaea replied.

"And so the plot thickens…" Atlas commented off-handedly.

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It had been a few minutes now and Louise was starting to get anxious, she knew the planet was covered in Vex and Fallen, she also knew that there were not any bases nearby unless some more had decided to show up very recently Atlas won't run into any trouble. Still, the last thing she wanted was to be responsible for the death of an Iron Lord. She still didn't know much about them aside from the stories Saito had briefly gone over but she knew enough to know they were not pushovers.

"Louise, calm down. Our connection on the radio was rather spotty likely because he was very far away, it's only natural that he would take so long to arrive." Saito had grown tired of watching Louise pace back and forth all the while muttering incoherently under her breath.

"But what if i-" "You didn't" "And if he-" "Not going to happen, besides he's an Iron Lord, I'd feel bad for anyone dumb enough to cross his path." "Urgh! Fine" Following their brief back and forth, Louise finally relented and sat down and did her best to meditate to pass the time. She found little success as her mind was still too distraught to relax.

"He's here" Saito spoke up after what felt like hours to Louise, but in reality was only minutes.

"Finally" Louise breathed a sigh of relief.

In the distance, she spotted a small dot that seemed to be gradually increasing in size, as it got large she was able to make out more and more detail. The ship seemed to be rather boxy in its design, it looked distinctly different from the hologram that Saito had shown her of the ship he managed to land in a completely controlled manner. Or at least that's how he puts it whenever the topic comes up.

Within the span of a minute, the ship was overhead and Louise got a full grasp of just how massive the ship was. It was at least three or four times the size of one of her train's cars and the noise and sand it kicked as it made its approach made her feel like she was in the middle of a sandstorm. Thankfully her helmet prevented any sand from getting in her eyes and her only concern would have been her robes getting dirty making her seem unpresentable… Again with that sudden concern for her appearances. It was beginning to concern her, but she suppressed it, it was pointless to worry over such little things, or so she told herself.

Finally, the ship touched down facing away from her, the rear of the ship opened to reveal a ramp, at the top of the ramp she saw an enormous figure that she decided could not possibly be human despite being completely humanoid in shape, there was the possibility of it being a fallen however she did not see an extra set of limbs sprouting from his armor. Louise refused to accept the reality that humans could grow a foot past six feet tall. Not possible, period. That would make her short, very and unbelievably short, and worst of all it would justify Saito's comments on her height. Not. Allowed.

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Completely oblivious to her inner turmoil Atlas made his way down the ramp of his Minerva class ship to greet the person before him. However mid-way down the ramp he was overcome by a sudden sense of danger, as an Iron Lord who had seen many years of combat he had grown accustomed to the battlefield, with that experience it wasn't difficult for him to notice killing intent projected by others. Right now, he was experiencing some of the worst killing intent in his entire life, and it was originating from the person standing directly in front of him. So, she was a warlord, after all, tensing himself he prepared himself for conflict, slipping into his combat state he began examining every outcome, every escape route available to him, locating and isolating every advantage and disadvantage in and out of his favor. As a Titan he was confident in his armor's durability, it was painted white with gold accents to mimic Lord Saladin's armor. Judging by the robes of his opponent they were a warlock, they had an Auto rifle on their back but nothing in their hands

Once he was confident that he had enough information he had Gaea bring out Nemesis Star, a heavy machine gun which he wasted no time pointing directly at his opponent's head.

Her reaction was a very shrill and childish shriek, he suddenly felt as though he had gravely misunderstood the situation he was in…

Louise had expected a few things when she met another Guardian, having the largest weapon she had ever seen pointed directly at her face was not on that list. Instinctively she raised both her hands in surrender praying he wouldn't kill her and Saito. She had placed her rifle on her back because she didn't anticipate any conflict with the guardian, nor with any of the other factions on Mercury as she had stopped her train in no man's land, another term Saito had used that was completely unfamiliar to her.

She may or may not have also released a very dignified scream in reaction to the sudden appearance of his double-barreled machine gun that would undoubtedly make very short work of her.

Her mind at the moment was racing at a mile a minute, if she died Saito was exposed to whatever ungodly arsenal of weapons he had his ghost storing in his personal inventory. This was not looking good for her, at all. 'Umm, Saito, I thought you said the Iron Lords were supposed to be friendly.'

'Well, yes' Saito replied

'Then why is he pointing a gun at my face!' Louise shot back.

"Please remove your helmet," Atlas demanded in a firm tone.

"What?" Louise didn't completely hear him over her argument with Saito.

"Remove your helmet. I need to confirm your identity." Atlas demanded again a little slower.

"Ah, uh Saito? Little help?" Louise nervously responded.

Not needing any further prompting Saito removed Louise's helmet exposing her face to the sunlight and letting her long pink hair fall down her back.

Louise had to squint for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, while she did she could have sworn she saw the Giant before her flinch for a moment, before lowering his weapon.

"My apologies, I had you mistaken for a Warlord, if I may ask how long ago was it that your Ghost first resurrected you?" Atlas spoke in a relaxed tone.

"Umm, I think it was about fourteen years ago now." Louise held a finger to her chin as she replied. "We've just been freight hopping around here during that time."

"Wait so you've never left this planet before!?" Atlas inquired, shocked.

"No, Saito crashed his ship when he arrived to revive me. Been stuck here ever since." Louise responded.

"Oh, I-I see," Atlas responded feeling very guilty for pointing his weapon at her now.

"Uh-huh, well if we are going to be leaving this planet behind I'd like to at least hide this train. I know some train yards had underground storage for the trains not currently in use. There should be one about an hour down the tracks, do you mind if we take a quick detour?" Louise asked, she felt as though she had to physically hold her tongue to avoid slipping back into her polished manner of speaking.

Atlas glanced at Louise than the train, and briefly once at his weapon that he'd just pointed at her, a second later he nodded his head. "Alright I don't see an issue with that, would you like me to fly overhead?"

"Actually I'll get Saito to give you the coordinates if you could check if the Yard is clear we could save ourselves a little bit of time," Louise replied.

Atlas nodded before turning to return to his ship, Louise, in turn, hopped aboard her train car to read a book. She knew they had at least an hour before they arrived she might as well get comfortable.

To say Atlas felt guilty was an understatement, he was most likely the first Human she had seen since she had been raised from the dead, and he had just introduced himself by holding her at gunpoint. He sighed, her murderous intent was most likely a misunderstanding that nearly turned into a firefight. Then there was her face, he did notice that she seemed a little short when he first saw her, but when she removed her helmet and he saw her face he felt like he'd just taken a hammer of sol straight to the face! She looked like a child! Her face could not have been older than 15! What kind of childhood did she have to have died on a battlefield.

'Atlas, I saw it too, and while it is certainly disheartening to see, there is nothing we can do about it now but push forwards. She is a Risen, and from what we know she wants to be a Guardian it's our duty to guide her along that path.' Gaea's soft voice of reason rang through his head, pacifying his thoughts and calming him down.

"It always hurts to think about how many died during the collapse, it hurts, even more, to see who did firsthand," Atlas said somberly.

The pair were silent for the rest of their trip, neither wishing to speak more on the matter at hand.

Louise awoke with a start as Saito popped into her head, apparently, she'd fallen asleep at her desk, again. She always found it so easy to sleep on the train when it was in motion, yet when they sat still if she didn't have her rifle in her hands and her back against a wall she just felt too exposed. She supposed that it was probably natural considering everything on this planet was always trying to kill her, even her rescuers apparently. Shaking her head she rid herself of the memory, he'd said it was a misunderstanding and she was only slightly willing to believe him as at the moment he was the first human she'd seen since waking up on this planet. He was also the first living or not entity to point a weapon at her but not actually fire it.

'Sorry I didn't mean to wake you but we're here. I think I heard some shots earlier but it's gone quiet now. I think Atlas dealt with whatever was waiting for us.' Saito spoke into her head.

Well, at least thanks to Atlas they didn't need to worry about getting into any fights once they arrived. "Saito do you have the codes for this yard? I can't remember if we ever tried to hide the train here before." Louise inquired, in the past, they had found these train yards and discovered they could access the underground storage, so long as they kept the train within a limit of fifteen cars they could easily store it underground.

'Yep, the last time we came here we got stuck underground for about a week hiding from that Fallen ketch that was chasing us' Saito replied nostalgically.

"Oh yeah! I remember that, sheesh those guys were so persistent, I had to go up and start hurling nova bombs at their ketch before they finally left. It's a shame I didn't destroy it though that probably would have saved us some trouble down the line." Louise answered with a chuckle at the memory.

'Well, we shouldn't keep our new 'friend' waiting now should we. I'll grab your favorite books and weapons but we can't take everything I'm afraid, I just don't have space for it all.' Saito said.

Louise was reluctant to leave her things behind but she knew if she managed to get hold of a ship she could always return later. With a sigh, she hopped off the train holding her favorite sketchbook under her arm since Saito was already completely full on storage space she was forced to resort to holding it physically. Turning around she watched as the space beside the railway opened up and the train was gently lowered underground and hidden from sight before a new empty platform came up and hid the entire contraption from sight. Louise felt a familiar pang in her chest as she watched as yet again she was forced to say goodbye to the place she had called home for so long.

"Don't look so sad, you know we'll be coming back no matter what." Louise looked over her shoulder to see Saito had materialized himself next to her.

"Yeah, yeah I suppose we will." Louise responded sadly, after a moment she perked up, "Well know I suppose I get to see what this whole last city is like now don't I?"

"Yes, and before you ask, yes they do have a library," Saito said with a chuckle, it was always funny to him seeing how Louise would get whenever a Library was mentioned, she was so obsessed with books it was almost concerning.