Chapter 43: The Aftermath

Five hours following the unexpected assault by two of the Jikken in a bid for them to reclaim the Commandment of Pacifism and failing to do so, everyone was currently reeling. Guardians had been recalled in order to keep the peace in response to the state of unrest among the citizens of the Last City. Meanwhile, the Seven Deadly Sins were in the Tower having a meeting with the Vanguard.

"With three of the Commandments gone, it's likely they're going to do something drastic." Alex stated.

"Agreed. The main question is: What will they do in response to three of their numbers being lost?" Zavala wondered.

"Um, guys? Where's Cayde?" Ana asked, causing everyone to notice that the Hunter Vanguard wasn't present.

"He said something about going to respond to a distress call." Ikora told her.

"Who sent it?" Snake asked.

"It was Sundance's sister, Moondance. She said she'd found her Guardian, but they needed assistance in getting to the Tower." Zavala replied.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" A familiar and mechanical voice called as Cayde walked into the room, with a small boy in Hunter garb on his shoulders.

"... Cayde, why do you have a kid on your shoulders?" Ikora inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Cuz I revived him." Moondance chirped as she appeared. Everyone blinked in response to her words and took a moment to process them.

"Hi!" The boy said happily from his perch on Cayde's shoulders. "It's nice to meet you! I'm Ace!" He told them.

"... How should we react to this?" Cortona asked as she gave the child on Cayde's shoulders a wave.

[I have no idea at the moment.] Skolas admitted.

"Gaaaang way!" A young voice said as everyone jumped out of the way right as they saw none other than Harlequin being chased on his shapeshifting pillow by all the kids… Which included Tristan and Lancelot who were riding Brutus. The kids all chased him in a circle on the table before they jumped off and ran out the room again.

The War Beast had grown well over the past ten years. He was still white and gold, but his size now rivaled that of an adolescent lion's.

"GET HIM!" The kids yelled as they gave chase to the Grizzly Sin. But as Lara passed Cayde and Ace, time seemed to slow before the Awoken Princess winked at him before she continued running. Ace blinked when he registered that a girl he didn't even know yet had winked at him as she passed by. He then did the one thing he felt was reasonable.

"Dad, who was that?" He asked his father. Cayde was about to answer when what he just said registered with the others, causing them to gape in shock.

"Dad?!" Sentry exclaimed in shock on behalf of everyone else.

"Oh boy." The Exo groaned as he took Ace off his shoulders and set him down. "That, Ace, was Lara. She's a kid who lives here. Why don't you go introduce yourself?" He suggested.

"Okay!" The now known son of Cayde replied before running after the group of kids chasing Harlequin.

"Cayde, explain." Zavala ordered sternly. The Hunter Vanguard just sighed in response.

'This is gonna be a LONG explanation…' He thought.

(Meanwhile, with the kids)

All the kids were now in a small pile while they were panting and wheezing from having run all around the Tower and City chasing Harlequin, but were now exhausted. That was when Ace came bouncing up to them cheerily.

"Hi!" He smiled, hands behind his back.

"Hey. What's up?" Tristan greeted from Brutus' side, the War Beast feeling as exhausted as the kids, with all of them using him as a pillow.

"I'm Ace! Can I play with you guys?" He asked, his hood falling over his face as he tilted his head to the side.

"Sure. Just let us get our breaths back." Nicholas replied with a tired sigh. Brutus looked at Ace before he got up, causing the kids to let out surprised squawks as they fell to the ground, before he padded over to him. Ace looked a bit nervous as the War Beast sized him up before sniffing him… And doing away with his nervousness by giving him a lick on the face, causing him to laugh happily as he hugged him.

"Well, we know Brutus likes him now." Lara commented.

"Wheeee!" Lancelot laughed before he passed out.

"... Think Nyx will like him?" Trisan wondered.

"Probably." Luz nodded.

"Huh?" Ace asked before he yelped as a long organism coiled around him. It was the Hive worm Nyx.

The past ten years had evidently been good to her. She had grown from a small, plump, chubby critter to a worm the size of a boa constrictor and radiated Void Light. She looked at the new child that she had seen with her favorite people before she started to nuzzle his face and gently squeeze him, mimicking a hug. Ace giggled as Nyx nuzzled him and couldn't help but feel relaxed.

"I'd say that answers our question." Lara smiled before she saw Moondance. "Hey Moondance, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Oh, Ace is my Guardian." She replied. The kids (minus Ace) immediately heard a record scratch in their heads as they processed that.

"EHHHH?!" They all exclaimed before their minds literally blew. Ace blinked as he watched the others pass out.

"... Better call dad and let him know about this." He mused.

"On it." Moondance said as she sent a message to her sister and let her know that the other kids had passed out from shock.

(Elsewhere)

Mara sighed as she laid back in her room. All the preparation was ready, her throne world had finally been finished so she could escape death. All that was left to do was wait. And she was determined to return to Vulcan and Ana as soon as possible and… Her hand drifted to her stomach. She had another set of little ones to look forward to now. Then she remembered one of the other projects and decided to check on it.

Getting up, she headed for the lab where the project resided. It was in this lab that three new Guardian subclasses awaited.

In one tube, a cyclone spun furiously with two blades in its center.

The second was full of water, but Mara could see a long lance in its center that she almost mistook for a strange bubble.

The final tube was filled with rocks that took the shape of a massive two handed war hammer that looked strong enough to cause a tremor.

It was time for nature… to unleash its wrath upon the solar system.

(Elsewhere)

At the very edge of the asteroid belt where the reef ended and the vastness of the Darkness' space began, the Hive's God King: Oryx, was arriving in his Dreadnaught with the entirety of his armies.

[Dragon Sin of Wrath. I am coming for you.] Oryx growled as he gripped his sword, Willbreaker, and stared at the space before him.

The Taken King Cometh, and he had his mind on one thing: to rob his son's murderer of his own son.

ThermalsniperN7: Oh no, Oryx is here and it sounds like he's gonna kill Tristan… If he can, that is. Additionally, it looks like nature itself is ready to unleash its fury on the solar system thanks to Mara.

Dragon Emperor0: I wonder which element goes to which class? I mean the earth on looks almost obviously Titan but I dunno, seems a little too obvious.

ThermalsniperN7: You'll find out. What's important is that they finished development just in time for Oryx's arrival. The Taken King arc is gonna be seriously different from the game this time around.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah… I wonder if Vulcan and Ana will step in as regents of the Reef so things don't fall apart after Oryx 'kills' Mara.

ThermalsniperN7: Not sure, though it would sound reasonable. I'm sure Alex will get a few hits in on Oryx on their behalf.

Dragon Emperor0: Assuming Vulcan doesn't join in. But yeah. Anyway, see you guys next week!