" No, really. What?" Glint was absolutley astounded. Completely flummoxed. Utterly and totally flabbergasted.
"A... a... cow?" His chosen stuttered uncertainly, looking just as thrown off as Glint felt. He hovered a little in the direction of the strange creature, and Crow stopped him with one hand. "Careful."
"It looks more like a tapir to be honest." He did a distance scan, and shifted as he digested the information. What a peculiar creature.
"We... we should get moving. We need a plan." Crow said as the tapir-cow shuffled away. Glint turned to him, running a quick scan. One day he'll remember to listen to his body.
"What you need is rest and water at the very least. You're running on fumes." He chided lightly. He made a mental note to scan the environment passively for anything that would be considered edible for Awoken. His chosen needed food.
"There's a cryptolith in there!" The young Hunter gasped incredulously. "If Osiris' theory on destroying them is right-"
"Then you'll need to rest before attempting such a thing. Your Light is strained from the Ascendant Plane, you haven't eaten in over a day, and you haven't slept in just as long. You... you learned the truth from the wrong person. You need rest." He tried to keep his voice steady, but it was hard. Crow took a small breath, and his gaze drifted to the ground.
The Young Wolf had been the wrong person. Ever since Glint had realized who his chosen had been, his days had become a countdown of dread. Dread of how Crow would react, dread that he would be a terrible Ghost, the absolute worst Ghost to deal with the situation. Dread that the truth would break his friend, dread that he would have to be the one to tell the truth, and that he would lose Crow forever if that happened.
It was the most horrible thing, and he could see and sense every iota of pain his chosen was going through. It was, in a minor sense, a relief; it was over and done with. It was no longer a disaster on the horizon. But now he had to tread carefully. He had to better than the best Ghost he could be, because this was not how it was supposed to come out. He had to make sure Crow was okay. It was his purpose.
His ward let out a sigh, and slowly met Glint' gaze. The gold was washed-out, like Awoken eyes tended to get when the individual was stressed and unhealthy. He could barely remember a time where there was life in Crow's eyes. He really hated Spider, and he didn't spend hate lightly.
"Okay." Crow conceded. Glint couldn't suppress a spin of triumph. "Let's find somewhere a good distance from this place. Keep it marked in your nav data."
"Reackon there's anything edible in those fields?" He suggested. Crow's brows pinched unpleasantly. "And no, I don't mean stealing. We've a little bit of glimmer we could give them."
"I'm not sure they'd trade with us." Crow shook his head. "This isn't earth, we don't even know if they're human down there! Or still human, if there are more cryptoliths.."
He nudged his chosen's hand as he started to worry with his cloak again. A habit he'd had since being revived, doing it so automatically Glint couldn't help but wonder if it was a tic of Uldren's.
"Crow, don't worry. Just wear your helmet. Remember when Osiris snuck us into the festival? You're the stealthiest shopper in the entire universe."
Transcript and footage from Eden Prime facility:
(Note: Sudden appearance of unknown alien corpse ejected from the rift)
Unknown: (gasping, groaning)
AI(Unknown): Sorry about the goo.
(Shuffling, scraping)
AI(Unknown): We need to move, before they follow us.
(Unknowns leave visual range)
(Heavy banging)
(Unknown 3 emerges from rift. Note: Behavior indicative of hunting pattern)
Unknown 3:(audible screaming, all adio receptors in area destroyed. Note: unknown wavelengths to mixed in screams seem to be cause of destruction)
(More Unknowns seemingly similar in biological appearance storm from rift, take up same pattern of worship as Cerberus operatives)
Crow couldn't see what people had against cornfields. They offered food and a good place to hide. Having scoped out the nearest farm building, and finding no vendor because it was night, he decided to fix a malfunctioning tractor to repay for the food he was about to take.
It was an easy fix, even with the the unknown technology. Glint just had to scan it, and make a new part based on the schematics by breaking down one or two of Crow's knives. Odd repairs and labour like this were how you earned food on the shore. Nothing new, here. When he was done, though, he still felt guilty, so he used one of his spare pieces of paper to write an apology, and weighed it down on the hood with his larger cube of glimmer.
Raw corn wasn't too much fun, but there was a fountain on the property, as well as a multitude of buckets. He boiled the corn with his Light, and left the bucket clean near the fountain. Plain corn wasn't much fun, but it was the best thing he'd had in days. Hunger satisfied(for now), he retreated deep into the field. There was something comforting about the lively waving of the plants into the night. A constant noise that let you know the place was alive.
Crow looked up, and tried to make out any recognizable constellations. He brushed his hair back, and paused, one finger still tangled in the sweat-ruined strings. Spider made me keep it this way. He'd... 'insisted'. He took out his knife, took a fistful of his hair, and cut it off before the consequences(or Glint) could stop him. It made him feel powerful. Like he had just taken control of something for the first time in his life. He'd committed a rebellion.
And the terror of it gripped him as soon as Glint phased in.
"Crow! What are you doing?" His Ghost gasped. The knife nearly slipped from his hand. The hair fell to the dirt of the cornfield. If he came before Spider like this, if he came before Spider like this, if came before Spider rebellious...
Spider knew. Of course he knew. He knew. Weren't the spies of the reefborn called 'Crows'? Uldren Sov's agents? My name is a joke. My name was meant as a joke.The full reality of everything he'd been through in life hit with a force that made the Celebrant's blade swings feel like light taps. There wasn't enough air to breath and sob at the same time. Glint passed a beam of Light over him, and he recoiled, the wild rush of emotions and realities homing in on his companion.
"You let him name me 'Crow'!" He accused. The Ghost recoiled in shock, and if he felt regret it was lost in the storm. "Why, why did you let it happen? You keep saying you want to protect me but you let it happen!"
" I couldn't do anything else, Crow-"
"Don't call me that! Don't you dare make up excuses! You could have told me any time, any time, and you didn't. Why!" each word made him feel more progressively wretched then before. A small part of him recalled that they had touched on this issue before but it had been filled with reassurances, not answers.
"He's a Warlord! I know his kind anywhere, and I know what they do the moment they think they own you." The Ghost explained desperately. "If they call you 'Crow', you're Crow. If they tell you they have Devourer Rounds ready for your Guardian, you believe them. If you try to leave without a plan, they bomb tag you. I was thinking of telling you, before the crash, but Spider, he... Spider's... Spider. He forbade it the moment he had the Rounds."
"And you never thought to tell me any of that, either?" He didn't miss the warble in Glint's voice. Spider knew no boundary of evil, but it wasn't something you spoke of, or thought of. You weren't allowed to. But it still felt like excuses.
"He forbade it!" His shell seemed to shrink. "You didn't need him breaking out Dark punishments more than he already was. I made a choice between having this conversation or watching you bleed more. I know I'm a bad Ghost. I just didn't want to watch you die."
"That's a fucked up choice." Was all he could say to that. Glint flinched.
" I know. I know I'm a bad Ghost. I'm a coward, I thought that telling would hurt you too much, but waiting hurt you so much more. It's my fault, it is. All of it. The Guardians, Spider, I..." Crow couldn't even see his Ghost anymore, his vision was too blurred by hot liquid. " Whatever you need me for, i-if you still need me, I'll do without question. If you want a new name, you make one for yourself. If you want me to leave I-I'll leave. Just tell me what you need."
He needed to see, but everything was too blurred by tears, and he needed to breath, but there wasn't enough air in the world.
"What do you need?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" He screamed. His legs gave out, the damp earth trying to soak it's way through Uldren's worn out wire weave. The knife fell out of his hand, and he felt sick with everything he'd just said, but couldn't bring himself to apologize because it kept sticking in his throat.
"I don't know..." Crow whimpered. Maybe he wanted this horrible nightmare to end, to wake up on the Shore. Maybe he wanted to die. Maybe he wanted to be alone, but the thought terrified him. Bad things happened when you were alone.
He wasn't sure how long he cried, sobbed, screamed, raged. At some point, ultimately, it all gave in to fear that he would ever express something in common with Uldren Sov, and he wound up a mess curled up on the ground, pulling Glint tight against his chest when his Ghost finally wrangled the courage to approach. As the tears dried up, he spent the night contemplating in silent terror. Every now and then, Glint would pulse Lignt hesitantly, as if unsure how such comforts might be received after such a row.
At some point in the night, Crow managed to apologize without breaking down again.
"You're not a bad Ghost." His voice was almost too broke to say it, but the shifting sell in his hand let him know his Ghost had heard.
Neither of them slept a wink.
They both hoped the bomb wouldn't go off.
Yeah, Crow angst. There's gonna be a bit of it. This kid has issues, which is good. 'Issues' are a Normandy crew prerequisite. 'Daddy issues' get bonus content.
No, early Javik will not be a part of this... maybe. My line of thought for using Eden Prime was 'Gee, that's a nice, underground bunker you got there, full of rock falls, vast corridors, twisting tunnels, and well-preserved mummies for thrall to feast on.'
Imma take that kind of setup as an invitation.
Fare Thee Well!