I do not own Destiny or any of its characters.

Digging Up the Past

"If you have some free time, there's a personal matter I'd like your help with," Elsie said.

"I'll always have time for you, Elsie," Hunter promised.

Elsie nodded as the Hero warped away to his ship. "My father was researching Darkness before the Vex assault. I want to find his research."

Hunter grimaced. "Exoscience?"

"That, and the Deep Stone Crypt," Elsie said.

Hunter groaned. "You're such a horrible girlfriend, trying to drag me back there!"

Elsoe laughed. "Yes, I'm so terrible. I'm sure we'll probably get to the long-lost facility that even Exos don't remember and be flooded by enemies and die horrible, agonizing deaths in a hail of energy blasts."

"Jesus, Elsie, don't jinx us!" Hunter laughed. "Let's focus on trashing your dad's least favorite workshop first."

Elsie nodded and Hunter summoned his Sparrow, he and Elsie climbing onto it. He sped off, heading for Bray Exoscience, and Elsie tightened her hold on him, lesning forward slightly to talk to him.

"We'll need to find my Grandfather's security codes to access the his research files," Elsie said.

"Don't worry about that," Hunter said, smiling slightly. "Now that I remember everything, I also remember that when you and him had your falling out, I stole his security codes for you. It actually was the same day the Vex attacked."

"You stole his codes?" Elsie asked. "How?"

"SIVA can hack into anything with an open port to put them in," Hunter said.

Elsie laughed. "Fair enough."

After a few minutes of driving, they reached Bray Exoscience and headed inside, fighting their way deeper into the facility than Hunter had gone to train his Stasis. Every room they passed through, they fought Fallen, and every room they passed through, Hunter began to grow more and more efficient at clearing the room in an attempt to get out of the room. Specificalky, he wanted to get away from the half-finished Exos and diagrams and schematics for Exos. This place was an orgy of evidence of Clovis Bray's crimes. Using Vex technology and Radiolaria, turning humans into machines, often against their will and equally often without giving them memories of their past so that they didn't know they never consented and wouldn't tell anyone that, expeeimenting on Exos after making them, including disassembling one while it was conscious to see if he could survive. He wished Clovis Bray were alive so he could kill him.

Finally, they reached a section where the facility had been destroyed entirely, leaving a ravine in the glacier fifty feet wide with an ice pillar in the center, allowing him and Elsie to jump across and continue back into the facility. Finally, they stopped at a computer, but after a moment of typing, she swore, slamming her hands into the console.

"Whst's up?" Hunter asked.

"The data's not here," Elsie said. "That bastard split it up between multiple separate computers. This one only has one location on it."

"This is going to be a headache treasure hunt, isn't it?" Hunter asked.

"Probably," Elsie nodded. "Come on. The data's in the Eventide ruins."

Hunter nodded, following Elsie as they both all but sprinted back out of the facility, neither wanting to stay any longer.

Hunter watched as Elsie typed on the computer. Finding it had been easy. Defeating the Vex and the extra-large Hydra in the room before it, less so. It was fortunate that the facility had had more than a dozen BrayTech Security automatons still active in cages formed by the Vex, which they freed along the way. With the admitedly useful added help, they were able to clear the facility without much trouble.

"It's a strange thing," Elsie said. "Ana and I are both alive again, here and now, after both of us died. Me wishing I didn't remember my past...Ana searching constantly for hers."

"You should tell her," Hunter said. "Not everything, but enough. She doesn't need to know about Clovis's crimes, or all the horrible things that happened, but would it really hurt to know she has a sister? Would it really help for her to have support?"

Elsie considered. "Maybe not." She continued to type. "I've got the data. I'll have to decrypt it. And I've got the location of the next terminal. We'll go after we see what we've got here."

Hunter nodded and they headed outside, then back to camp to work on their data.

Hunter sighed as they reached the next computer. Another Vex-filled facility, this time with a more powerful variant of a Minotaur leading them.

"Clovis may have been a bastard, but he was a briliant one," Elsie said. "He hid decryption algorythms for his journal all over Europa. There's one in this console."

"What about his data?" Hunter asked.

"That's not here," Elsie said. "We're getting the decryption algorythm this time. The next one should be the rest of the data, or at least, the next part."

Hunter nodded.

Elsie paused. "We told her she was adopted, Ana. Do you remember?"

Hunter nodded. "That's what you told me at first, too. The easy explanation for your different skin tones."

"There was more to it that I didn't tell you," Elsie said. "You remember her...destructive tendencies? Well, my mother thought that if Ana believed she wasn't one of us, she might escape our Grandfather's cruelty. I never bought it. Cruelty's not genetic, it's learned. But...in the Dark Future I lived through, Ana found her own brand of cruelty, thanks to the Darkness. It used her troubled past to manipulate her, and she wasn't strong enough to resist, and I..." she turned away, "I had to put an end to it. To my little sister's life. There was no other choice."

"But there is, now," Hunter said. "Ana hasn't fallen to the Darkness yet. There's time to change that." He turned Elsie toward him, cupping her face. "You can save Ana from thst fate. If she doesn't have the strength to resist alone, then you need to be her strength. If not knowing her past, or discovering it alone drives her to Darkness, then she needs you to show her the truth while holding her hand to keep her from falling. Ana's not lost yet."

Elsie smiled, forming her artificial skin and leaning in, Hunter's own forming as well just before he met her in a kiss.

"Thank you," Elsie smiled. "If you weren't here, I...I doubt I'd have the strength to face my family's past."

"You would," Hunter smiled. "You're stronger than I could ever be."

Elsie smiled, kissing him again before pulling away. "We should go. I need to decrypt Clovis' data, and then we should go and get the rest."

Hunter nodded, and they both turned, quickly leaving the facility.

Hunter drove his dagger into the House Salvation Archon's head before dropping back to the ground from his jump, walking away calmly as Eramis' loyal follower collapsed to the ground. He walked through the door, finding Ana and Elsie already talking inside.

"I knew Clovis was bad, but all this..." Ana was saying. "I'm feeling a little ashamed of being a Bray right now."

"Welcome to my world," Elsie said, sounding amused, though Hunter could tell she was nervous.

"Elsie...Clovis, you..." Ana shook her head, frustration filling her face. "This is all I wanted, all I sesrched for! But you've been around this whole time, and I never hesrd from you." She stopped, noticing Hunter for the first time. "You. You're Hunter, right? What are you doing here?"

"Ana, Hunter is the prototype Exo for the model I became, the one I told you about," Elsie said. "He's also my boyfriend, both from before we were Exos and now that his memories have returned."

"Really?" Ana asked, Hunter nodding. "I see. That explains that, then."

"There's something else we need to talk to you about," Hunter said. "Elsie and I are working to enhance our Stasis powers, our Darkness Energy."

"Darkness Energy!?" Ana all but shrieked, backing away.

"Ana, what we're doing here is extremely important," Elsie said. "Stasis is just a tool. We've used it for good."

"You're using Darkness?" Ana asked, looking between them. "Both of you?"

"I was skeptical at first, too, Ana," Spark said.

"Are you serious!?" Ana demanded. "After everything it's done to us!?"

"Ana," Elsie said, her desperation beginning to show through. "Our past...I thought that keeping it from you was the best way to protect you."

"Protect me?" Ana scoffed. "I've been protecting myself just fine without your help, thanks! And this? Using the Darkness? That can't end well!"

"And it didn't before," Elsie agreed. "But this time-"

"Whoa, hold on," Ana interrupted. "Before?"

"Elsie is stuck in a timeloop," Hunter said. "She's lived multiple timelines."

"What!? Ana gaped.

"In another timeline, Ana, you were...too obsessed with your past for yoir own good," Elsie said. "And I was...too selfish for my own good. Truth is...like Hunter said, I'm not from this timeline. Where I come from, the Darkness won, and I tried to shield you from it, but all I did was...drive you to it." Elsie's gaze fell to the ground in shame as Ana turned away, obviously struggling to digest the flood of information. "I'm sorry for keeping so much from you. I think the best way to help you now...is just to be there for you."

"Look..." Ana said, her voice thick with conflicting emotions. "I don't mean to be ungrateful, and it's incredible that you're alive...really...but I...don't know how to handle this. I'm sorry." Then she turned, taking a few steps before warping away.

"Ana, wait!" Elsie said, but it was too late.

Hunter stepped forward instantly, wrapping his arms around her. "You did the right thing. She just needs time to process. It's a lot."

"I hope so," Elsie said, voice trembling. "For now...For now, I'll keep working on Clovis' Stasis research."

Hunter nodded. "Let's head back."

Elsie nodded and they left the facility in silence.

Elsie sighed as she stopped, staring down at the several levels below them in the massive Exo factory room. Hunter stepped up beside her, taking her hand, and Elsie smiled, squeezing it slightly before taking her hand back and taking out her rifle again, Hunter unholstering his Hand Cannons.

"There's something you should know before we get down there," Elsie said. "It's not just another terminal, this time. It's a giant Exo head containing...the AI that my Grandfather turned himself into. It's all that remains of my Grandfather."

"And I assume I'm not allowed to shoot it," Hunter said.

"We'll see," Elsie said.

Hunter nodded, and they headed to a teleporter to the next platform. As they reached it, both opened fire on the Fallen on the platform, slaughtering them, before jumping from thst platform to the next one down, which was considerably closer, then from there to the last, slaughtering Fallen the entire way. Finally, they passed through the last door and entered a massive room with almost a dozen raised platforms and stairways, dozens of security mechs, and a massive Exo head the size of a Fallen Skiff at the edge of the platform. They walked over to it and Hunter rolled his eyes.

"He just had to make a head to fit his ego," Hunter sighed.

Elsie chuckled. "Of course he did."

Just then, Ana appeared to their left.

"Ana," Elsie said. "You came back."

"Yeaj, well, it's not every day you reunite with your robot sister and her boyfriend after the apocalypse," Ana joked before getting serious. "And because I figured, if you went to that much trouble to protect me, you must really care."

"I do," Elsie said. "I've just been scared, Ana, about losing you again. I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping the truth from you."

"All you need to do is be my sister, Elsie," Ana said. "Whatever truths we face, no matter how tough, we'll do it together."

"No better time than the present, then," Elsie ssid.

"Just let me know when to start wasting my bullets," Hunter said as Spark flew forward to activate Clovis' AI head.

"Confidential Intelligence activated," the Exo head said. "It's been centuries since our collective passing, and yet my granddaughters, Elisabeth and Anastasia, stand before me, alive. Oh, and you. What was it again?"

"It's Hunter, now," Hunter said. "Don't blow a circuit trying to remember something you never bothered to learn."

Clovis snorted derisively. "Quite right."

"Clovis?" Ana checked.

"Yes, Anastasia," Clovis confirmed. "It's me."

"Incredible!" Ana said.

"I assume since you've made it this far, you've come for the research," Clovis said. "Potent Darkness Energy. This is what you were looking for, Elisabeth? I could never use it...but something tells me you can."

"I can, and will, but not alone," Elsie said. "We can all use it for good. To save humanity."

"No, no, no," Clovis said hurriedly, sounding annoyed. "What? That's not what it's for at all. It's for research. For legacy. For the Bray name only."

"Why am I not surprised?" Elsie said.

"Don't get holier-than-thou on me, Elisabeth," Clovis said. "Need I remind it was you who volunteered for Project Exo? You knew the Bray name was at stake, and you fought for it. Unlike your sisters, or your mother, even your father. All ungrateful and weak."

"You were always a bastard, Clovis," Elsie said.

"And yet, you stood beside me willingly," Clovis countered. "Even into eternal life. Life I gave you."

"I wasn't standing beside you anymore when I became an Exo," Elsie said. "I was standing beside Hunter. And I'm glad you gave me eternal life, because I'm going to use it to help save the universe from evil like you."

"Your naivete was always to be your downfall, Granddaughter," Clovis said. "Enjoy the gift, and don't forget. You'll always be a Bray...like me."

Elsie sighed as the head shut back down. "You know, Clovis was always problematic, but he used to have some humanity, before he let the Darkness take it from him."

"Screw him," Ana said dismissively. "He can't control us anymore. Let's take this power and use it exactly like he doesn't want us to. For humanity."

"Ana's right," Elsie said. "Time to go."

Ana nodded and warped away, and Hunter and Elsie left the facility the long way.

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