AN/ Hey, again, readers! I've got another chapter for ya, this one's a bit shorter, but at least it didn't take me a month to write this time lol. Let me know your thoughts as usual, whether they be criticisms or not, I read and appreciate it all! Anyway, on to the story! Enjoy!

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Tower, Earth, Sol System

"-ARDIAN! GUARDIAN, COME OVER HERE!"

It wasn't exactly unusual to hear Lord Shaxx, handler of the Crucible, shouting at the top of his lungs, it was actually extremely common. In fact, most people in the tower, both Guardians and civilians alike, often assumed that all he could do was shout. But having known and spoken to Shaxx outside of the context of his Crucible, the Young Wolf knew this was not the case. Though the times when Shaxx spoke at a reasonable volume were rare, they did occur every so often, typically in conjunction with something of especially great import.

"GUARDIAN!"

Luckily for the sanity of the Tower's residents, most simply learned to block his shouting out. The Young Wolf was no exception. In spite of his proximity to Shaxx, he was able to focus almost entirely on the task he had set himself to, sorting his vault. He had repeatedly put it off, until finally now, after the emotional turmoil involved in the recent events on the Moon, he needed something mundane to occupy himself. And out of all the things he could choose-

Tensing abruptly, he resisted the urge to draw his gun as a massive hand slammed into his shoulder from behind, followed by a booming voice that was far too close to be normal.

"GUARDIAN! YOUNG WOLF! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

Forcing himself to relax, the Young Wolf turned and found himself face to helmet with Lord Shaxx himself.

"AT LAST! THE HERO OF THE TOWER HAS GRACED ME WITH HIS ATTENTION!"

Despite the helmet covering Shaxx's face, the Young Wolf could hear the teasing grin in his voice.

"Oh! Sorry, Lord Shaxx, I hadn't realized you were trying to talk to me," he gave a wry smile. "I've got a lot on my mind these days."

"SO I'VE HEARD! CONQUERING THE SCARLET KEEP, SAVING ERIS MORN, CONFRONTING THE DARKNESS AND ITS NIGHTMARES, YOU'VE BEEN BUSY! WHY, I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU JOINED A MATCH IN MY CRUCIBLE!"

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, the Young Wolf tried thinking back to the last time he had been in the Crucible, and honestly even he wasn't sure.

"Sorry about that, I know how much you enjoy it when I participate in the Crucible, but I just haven't had the time for such things in a long while now."

Shaxx was silent for a few moments, hunched over a bit to be at eye level with the Young Wolf, giving him what was likely a piercing stare. Then he clapped his massive hands together and straightened up again.

"I HAVE AN IDEA! WHAT BETTER WAY FOR YOU TO RELAX FROM YOUR DUTIES THAN TO HAVE SOME FUN IN THE CRUCIBLE?! UNLESS YOU HAVE ANY OTHER ASSIGNMENTS RIGHT NOW, I'M SURE I CAN FIND YOU A MATCH IMMEDIATELY!"

"I don't-" pausing, the Young Wolf thought about it for a moment. He had been going to reject Shaxx's offer outright, if only out of habit, but now that he thought about it… "I think… I'll take you up on your offer, Lord Shaxx."

Giving a bellowing laugh, Shaxx clapped him on the shoulder, clearly excited at the idea.

"COME THEN, MY FRIEND, LET'S GET YOU IN THERE SO YOU CAN TEACH THESE ROOKIES HOW A TRUE GUARDIAN FIGHTS!"

-LINE BREAK-

Usually in Crucible matches, it was a pretty even fight. Even if there were a few times when a New Light would join a match of Control and find themselves wildly outclassed, generally the Redjacks did a good enough job of balancing the teams.

This match was not a normal one, by any means. Shaxx had taken it upon himself to bring in the finest fighters he could find for the occasion, in order to give the Young Wolf a challenge. He was not naive enough to think that the average Guardian would be able to stand a chance against the Kingslayer himself, but the former Warlord had at least hoped to present him with worthy foes. If possible he would have brought Ikora into it as well, but for one thing, she was far too busy these days for such things, and for another, well, he didn't want to cause a second Collapse through the sheer ferocity that such a battle would bear.

Even without Ikora, though, this should prove to be one of the most riveting Crucible matches in recent history. Looking at the number of bets being placed as the teams prepared, it seemed the people of the Last City agreed wholeheartedly.

Shoving a Redjack out of the way, Shaxx took its place at a monitoring station, nearly giddy with excitement.

There was no way in hell he was going to miss personally supervising this match.

As he gave the all clear for the match to start, he heard a large presence stomp its way towards him. At any other time he would have tensed at the Titan's presence, but right now he only had one thing he was focusing on.

"I heard my Young Wolf has entered your Crucible," Lord Saladin grunted. "It's about damn time he got back to honing his skills somewhere, even if it's here and not in the Iron Banner."

For the moment Shaxx ignored the Iron Lord, his gaze fixed on the screen following the Young Wolf as he sprinted towards the enemy team.

Over the next 10 minutes, Lord Shaxx and Lord Saladin watched in varying degrees of shock as the Young Wolf completely dismantled the enemy team, only occasionally even stopping to use a weapon, instead almost entirely relying on the strength of his Light. Whether it be glimmering Solar knives, fists wreathed in Arc, or blades of Void, he quickly and efficiently ripped through the enemies. At first his team had tried to help, but after a few minutes of fruitlessly wandering around, they wound up just staying off to the side, waiting for the match to end.

Shaxx and Saladin glanced at each other, both still reeling from the match. They had been overseeing Crucible and Iron Banner matches for a very, very long time, but this was…

In the past Shaxx and Saladin had been enemies, then friends, and then antagonistic allies at best, and these days they rarely agreed on anything, especially concerning the Young Wolf. In this instance, however...

Saladin glanced back at the screen that currently showed the Young Wolf trying to escape the attempts at conversation by the other Guardians in the match, before he turned back to Shaxx.

"We can never let him and Ikora fight," he firmly said.

"Never," Shaxx nodded somberly in agreement, his tone almost quiet for once.

The City probably wouldn't survive such a thing.