Crow stood in a field of flowers; small scattering of forget-me-nots mixed with amaryllis, stout cacti scattered singularly and in small clumps. Holly grew in abundance alongside calla lilies and snap dragons. There was large swath of orange blossoms that seemed to be at odds with the yellow zinnia. He could make out a large fir tree surrounded by narcissus in his peripheral, but he couldn't turn his head or angle his body to look. Begonias crept towards the field from across the hill, and far above, mangled, bird-like shaped began to scatter what looked like dead leaves to the wind. Withered nasternium, or broken stalks of it, littered the field like corpses on a battlefield, still visible despite the new growth. He only spotted one that was still alive.

The shadows of the birds grew larger, but they were still pinpricks in the sky. Ice ran up Crow's spine, and dread pumped through his veins. Something awful was coming, he could hear it, banging louder, and louder-

Something metal hit him in the jaw, tearing Crow painfully out of his dream and startling Glint into phasing away from his usual resting place.

"Up, little bird!" Arrha cackled, already retreating back down the hall. Glint cautiously rematerialized, and Crow gave him a brief pat; as much to reassure himself as his Ghost.

This was Arrha's way of letting them know Spider was requesting their presence. Taking a deep breath, he stood, straightening his cloak as his Ghost used Light to sooth away the aches of sleeping on the floor, Crow strode away from the screaming pipes. He couldn't shake the dread from his dream.

As he rested before landing on the moon, the dream returned. This time, he soared down twisting, lightless passageways to get to the field. It was strange, but for some reason it felt like a warning.

Things went south quickly. Racing to find an old, Lightless Warlock, he tried to put it out of his mind and focus on the objective. He soon saved a life for the first time. As Glint chided Osiris in that caring way of his, Crow felt like he'd finally done something worthwhile in his life. Then the Young Wolf and his Ghost fumed and glared at him, and he felt dread at the familiar expressions of recognition and resentment.

Later, when he told Glint about, as he did for all his other dreams, his Ghost assured him that this one, at least, was normal for an Awoken. Metaphorical precognative visions were common for reefborn; common enough that most either didn't pursue the meanings, or didn't have to because it was a common pattern of the universe, such as babies being born or an animal going extinct.

As they hunted monstrosities, the dreams continued, both of the field and of the shard.

The Young Wolf was downright icy inall their interactions, and much like Spider used any excuse he could find to hurl verbal abuse. On the upside, the man was a Hunter, and when he wasn't insulting Crow, he was obnoxiously pointing out the things he did wrong with his Light. He soon figured out that doing stupid things with his Light was a way to get an insult-laced lesson in being a Hunter. It was painful, but it worked. Besides, Spider forbade any sort of reading material that might teach him.

Osiris was better. Distant, but not cruel. He could be snooty about things Crow did wrong, but the snootyness felt more like a character trait then a directed insult. Sometimes he snuck Crow food and other little things.

When he went to Osiris about his dreams, having heard that Warlocks were experienced with visions and the like, the older Ex-Lightbearer advised him to let the visions take him where they may- with backup, of course. He also advised against making said visions public knowledge, stating that Crows face was known and hated, and if anyone found out the Traveler spoke to him, it would end badly for all involved.

So he followed the hawk made of Light. As he approached the Shard, it felt like something vast and alive was reaching out to touch him. The field briefly flickered across his vision-it is meant for others, our war will become theirs and theirs will become ours, find them- and then there was a gun in his hand. A replica of an old favorite of the Vanguard Guardians, but forged by the Traveler itself.

The Young Wolf took it. Insisted that the Vanguard needed to examine it, as it was a message from the Traveler. Crow told himself he let it happen, but later admitted to himself that the Wolf wouldn't have given him a choice if he'd said no. It was okay. He was used to not having anything that was truly his. That night the dream of the feild was especially intense, and the shadows of the birds seemed to be changing.

When Osiris approached him, before the final hunt, he presented Crow with Hawkmoon silently. When he sputtered and asked why, the Warlock told him that the Traveler had meant it for him.

As he entered the ascendant realm, he felt a strange pull, and after the Celebrant threw him into The Howling, a hawk made of Light drifted in the corner of his vision when he managed to latch on to a drifting boulder. He could sense it with his Light, like a compass drawn to north, and he struggled to stay on task. When the way out closed itself off, he became tempted by the pull.

After feeing the realm, he used his Light to feel for rips in reality, like Osiris had taught him. He felt where the Celebrant was starting to tear, and he ignited his Light, scorching the way shut and trapping it with the Wolf. The plan worked, and the Celebrant died. Unable to contain his ecstasy, he made the mistake of smiling at the the other Hunter and congratulating him.

The Young Wolf exploded, face twisted in viscous fury, and came at him in a fit of rage, screaming and pulseing with ice. Crow's usual routine was to brace himself and let whatever angry Guardian who attacked have their way with him. Glint would wait until he was certain they'd left, and then revive him. Not this time, mixed with the furious screams was a mocking screech, a cruel revelation, of the name 'Uldren Sov'.

The Wolf came at him with Darkness-forged picks, and the horror of the revelation was injected with a dose of mortal terror. Unable to see anywhere else to go, he ducked under the other Hunter as he lunged, fled into the portal the Wolf had come through without thinking, and left a burning grenade of Light in his wake to seal the tear shut.

Uldren Sov. Uldren Sov. I was Uldren Sov. It echoed against his skull, louder than the Taken he trampled or ran past, louder than Glint's pleading, louder than The Howling around him. I was Uldren Sov.

Butcher. A bullet grazed him. He leapt off one rock and onto another.

The Traitor Prince. More rocks. More pleading.

Murderer. He scrambled atop a geode, screamed, and curled in on himself with a sob. Glint materialized, and Crow shut his eyes at the sight of him

" Crow, listen to me, none of it matters. You aren't him." Spider's favorite hostage nudged his forehead, and he flinched.

" Why?" Crow snapped, the despair and anger eating away at his core bubbling to the surface. Something hot and wet streamed down his face, it had to be blood, he couldn't remember ever crying, not even during a beating. "Why choose me? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because of this." Glint answered calmly, guiltily. He ran a beam of Light over Crow, but the pain didn't stop. " It's hurting you, and I can't make it stop. I could ever do anything like that to you."

Crow knew this. He always had. But pain didn't care what you knew. He sank to his knees and bit his knuckle, trying to stifle the wave. Glint flew closer, wiggling into the hood of his cloak, radiating Light and warmth.

" I chose you because your Light was the brightest. I chose you because you sang with loyalty, unlike any other, and I could feel your compassion, your resilience, your kindness. Maybe Some of that's from Uldren, but you got everything he threw away." His Ghost said quietly, giving off small pulses of Light as he did so. "He threw away kindness. He stunted his compassion. He embraced cruelty. You, Crow, are my Guardian, and you are everything your old self wasn't. I would choose you again and again, and I will never regret it."

The wave broke through.

"It's okay to cry, Crow. It's okay to cry."

Just taking a quick dip. Getting my toes a little wet after my extended break. Bunch of stuff for my other fics got lost in data somehow, and part of me is waaaaay to lazy to do that much rewriting. This is just a Crow experiment, not sure how far it will go.

UPDATE: Changed a lot of this chapter after a nasty guest review pointed out my "I have a head cold" decisions. I was trying an experiment with my style, and apparently it was unpopular. Would be nice if the guest review approval filter had notified me so I didn't have that embarrassing, scathing little nugget hit the review box at all. This chapter was always going to get a rewrite once I found the time and felt better, but this fix is really just me flexing some worn out writing muscles. It's not going to be pretty. I want to get back to the state I was in before before I try something like one of Losing Time's 5k chapters or Out of Tricks.

That being said, I don't mind constructive criticism. That thing where you point out error but you're nice about it. I've had a good bit of help from folks who point out embarrassing typos. Considering I'm writing this on my tablet because my laptop is slow as hek, there's going to be a few of those.

Fare Thee Well!