Friends in Low Places

A Destiny Short film script

The scene opens with a shot of a human camp in the EDZ. The town is bright, illuminating the night above. Two Fallen devils are camping not far away, waiting and talking. One is a captain, the other a vandal.

Vecrom: "They said they would have started already."

Breven: "I don't think I'm ready for this."

Vecrom: "We have been over this."

Breven: "I know, but still-"

Vecrom: "Still what? I fought for this position, for you. It is the easiest job on the mission. Cover the escape routes, kill the survivors. That is all. Then, we get our rations."

Breven: "I don't want to kill civilians. They should not matter."

Vecrom: "If word gets out about our raid, security around other villages increases. They do matter."

A flare shoots into the sky above the village. Sirens and gunshots sing in the distance. The occasional explosion of light is seen sending debris flying.

Vecrom: "That is the signal. Refugees should be crawling through this path any minute. Hide yourself."

(Breven looks guilty and scared)

Vecrom: "I know that times are hard Breven. We all lost something in the whirlwind, but now we must fight. This is survival, and survival requires others to suffer."

Breven: "I am so hungry."

Vecrom: "I am too. Get into position."

(Distant human chatter is heard from down the path. 12 people, 2 of them armed, approach. They are three families of four. One of them steps through a trip mine setting the humans in a flurry of smoke. Vecrom and Breven hop out of their hiding spots and fire at the cloud. When the smoke clears, only one child is left standing.)

Vecrom: "Breven, I'm out of ammo. Shoot him!"

(Breven hesitates. The child just stands there, frozen with fear.)

Breven: "Vecrom, he's just a child."

Vecrom: "We've been over this! Shoot him or we will fail the mission!"

(A bullet wizzes past the two fallen and into the boys chest. The two turn to look at who shot it. A dreg looks back at the two for a moment.)

Dreg: "You hesitated."

Vecrom: "We had that under control without your help."

Dreg: "I beg to differ, Vecrom. I wonder what our kell would think of your failure to uphold such a simple task."

(The dreg takes off into the woods. Vecrom takes Breven's gun and tries to shoot the dreg, but misses.)

Vecrom: "Dammit! He's going to rat us out to the kell."

Breven: "Vecrom, look."

(The boy is standing again, no wound in sight. He tries to run away, but trips and falls back down the mountain path breaking his neck. As he does, a ghost pops up and tries to heal him. The ghost then sees the two fallen and tries to flee.)

Breven: "Wait!"

(Breven chases the ghost down the mountain, Vecrom following close behind. They eventually find themselves in the village and see a captain holding the ghost and talking to another captain about what to do with it. Breven picks up a rifle off a dead human and points it at the captains.)

Captain 1: "Hey Breven! Look what we caught!"

Breven: "That belongs to me. Hand it over please."

Captain 2: "You expect us to listen to the demands of a vandal? I could have you docked for that behavior."

Breven: "Final warning. Don't make me kill you for it."

Captain 1: "You want your little light so bad? Then come and take it."

(The captain clips the ghost to his belt and charges Breven. The captain dodges Breven's shots and goes in to use his swords. Breven picks up a shock spear and tries to fight the two captains off. In a short duel, he kills one of the captains, and the other pins him down with his swords. The captain is then killed from a gunshot to the head from Vecrom's pistol. The ghost continues to struggle against the belt clip.)

Vecrom: "What the hell were you thinking!"

(Breven gets up, unclips the ghost from the belt, and holds it tightly. The ghost keeps struggling, shouting curse words at him.)

Breven: "Calm down little light. I don't wish to hurt you."

Owl: "Like hell you don't! Go find some other scrap to steal, I ain't got nothing for you!"

Vecrom: "Why would you risk your life for this? Kill your teammates for this? This bickering brick?"

Breven: "If we bring this ghost back to the kell before that dreg gets to him, he will be persuaded to give us a promotion. We just killed a guardian!"

Vecrom: "Killed? He fell down a hill."

Breven: "They don't know that."

Vecrom: "What about the two captains?"

Breven: "No one is going to come back and search the bodies. They were killed in action."

(Vecrom pauses to think about his options.)

Vecrom: "I don't see any better alternatives. It's worth a shot. But, if this goes south, I can't protect you. We're both on thin ice."

(Scene transition to the inside of the Fallen throne room. The kell is speaking with the dreg from earlier. The Kell is furious. Vecrom and Breven approach down the long hall.)

Kell: (to the dreg) "That's enough from you. I'll make sure you get extra rations later. You're on your way to a promotion."

(The kell notices Vecrom and Breven.)

Kell: "You! I cannot wait to hear your excuse this time Vecrom! I give you the easiest job for this mission and you fail me once again!"

Vecrom: "Sir, the child has been dealt with."

Kell: (laughs) "You expect me to believe you? Where is your proof? Did you bring me his head?"

Vecrom: "We-"

Kell: "Do not bore me with details. Do you have proof or not?"

Vecrom: "No."

Kell: (sighs) "Now, give me a mission report."

Vecrom: "The town was razed to the ground. No survivors. As for supplies, there wasn't much. A few spare parts for our ships and ammunition for our guns was all that was usable. The biggest victory however, was the land. I have dispatched servitors, already to pick it clean for ether."

Kell: "You ordered the servitors?"

Vecrom: "Yes, our leading captains payed for this battle with their lives. I was next in the chain of command."

Kell: "You expect me to believe that every captain that went on a hit and run mission died, leaving you in command?"

Vecrom: "We were outmanned sir-"

Kell: "I DON'T WANT EXCUSES VECROM! WE ARE FAR PAST THAT!"

(The kell signals for his guards and they grab Vecrom and Breven. Another guard brings the kell a sword.)

Breven: "Wait, don't!"

Kell: "Quiet!" (pause) "I was a fool to let someone as weak as yourself train recruits. You have failed this house and you have failed me. Until you prove yourself worthy of redemption, I demote you to the rank of dreg." (looks Breven dead in the eye) "Let this be a lesson for you."

(The kell slashes Vecrom's lower arms off. Vecrom screams in pain and Breven takes one of the guards pistols and shoots the guard. The guards holding down Vecrom drop him and attack Breven. He shoots both of them and tries to shoot the kell, but it jams. He makes a break for the exit.)

Kell: "KILL HIM!"

(Breven picks up one of the dead guards' staffs and blocks one of the vandal's strikes as he dashes through the door. He hijacks a pike and drives off into the forest. A couple of pikes follow him for a bit, but they soon lose interest as he shakes them off his tail. Breven finds himself at the ruins of the burnt village. He looks for a brief moment, dismounts from the pike, and unclips the ghost from his belt. It's eye is dim and tired looking.)

Breven: "Little light?"

(The eye still looks dull. Breven takes the circuits in his spear and wires them to the Ghost. He turns on the spear and the Ghost sparks. He quickly rips the cords out from the Ghost out of fear. The Ghost's eye lights up and he starts to float again. The Ghost observes Breven.)

Breven: "No one is here anymore. I'm not going to hurt you. Go raise your Guardian."

(a brief pause)

Owl: "What happened to your friend?"

(Breven stumbles towards his pike and collapses. He breathes heavily and looks under his armor, revealing a wound from a shock pistol. The Ghost floats toward him and scans the wound.)

Owl: "How long was I asleep?"

Breven: "Go raise the child."

(The Ghost flys over the hill and out of view. A flash of light is seen just under and the child walks over to Breven. Perspective switches to Breven, and he sees the flash of light just as he passes out. When he awakes, it is the morning and the child is sitting by a fire and cooking a squirrel. Next to the child is Breven's spear, and an empty canister of ether. Breven looks down to check his wound, it's healed.)

Owl: "He's awake."

(The child looks up with excitement. He puts the squirrel down for a moment and runs up to Breven.)

Owl: "Hey give him some space. He's not a lab exibit."

Breven: "I do not understand."

Owl: "Me neither four arms. I rose him like you said and he comes darting back here to save you. He's really fast."

Kai: "Are you hurt?"

Breven: "Not anymore."

Kai: "Great. What's your name?"

Breven: "Why are you helping me?"

Kai: "You saved Owl, why wouldn't I help you?"

Breven: "But the village."

Kai: "Oh, those guys? Are you one of them?"

Breven: "Not anymore."

Owl: "Kai! Your squirrel is on fire!"

(The child turns and sees the smoke immiting from the fire and runs over to try and save it from charring. Breven lays, still dumbfounded. Owl floats towards him.)

Owl: "He is a handful. And I don't even have hands."

Breven: "Are you 'the owl'?"

Owl: "Just 'Owl' is fine by me. He thought of the name himself when we saw one in the woods."

Breven: "Why is he so young."

Owl: "I found him about a month ago. We can't see what they look like alive until we revive them, there isn't much you can tell about a person by looking at their bones. All I saw were his character traits. Bold, determined, understanding. The light is a mysterious and rare thing to have, and he had enough to burn brighter than the rest. But when I rose him, I realized that this would be far harder than I thought. He died when he was eleven years old, so he has the body of a child now."

(They watch as the child tries desperately to stop the squirrel from burning. He eventually puts it out by pouring his water out on the meat. He pauses for a moment with rage in his eyes and then lets out a shriek of anger, sending static arc energy pulsing through the forest surroundings.)

Owl: "Kai! Calm down, it's okay!"

(Owl floats over to the child.)

Owl: "Breathe, breathe. Count to seven."

Kai: "One, two…"

(As he counts, Breven gets up and walks towards the two.)

Kai: "Seven."

Owl: "Good, good. We'll find you some food later."

Breven: "That was incredible."

Kai: "Thanks, but it wasn't on purpose."

Breven: "Purpose or not, it was powerful. May I speak with Owl for a moment please?"

Kai: "Sure."

(Kai walks away and plays with Breven's ark staff.)

Breven: "Let me help you train the boy."

Owl: "Excuse me?"

Breven: "He needs a mentor little light. A physical mentor."

Owl: "He had a mentor until you burned down that village!"

Breven: "You will die out here alone. A child with uncontrolled power like this, you won't last a week. You need my help. I may not know how to control the light, but I know how to control everything else."

Owl: "If anyone sees us they will shoot to kill. That flag on your back is practically a bullseye."

(Breven takes his banner off and places it on the ground. He grabs a knife from his belt.)

Owl: "What are you doing?"

Breven: "Letting go of my past, for good."

(Breven cuts one of his wrists with the knife. Blue blood spills from his arm and he uses it to paint a blue triangle over the House of Devils symbol. After, he slumps back onto the ground, gripping his wrist in pain.)

Owl: "You're really serious about this aren't you?"

Breven: "I have nothing else to live for."

Owl: "What is your name?"

Breven: "Breven."

Owl: "Breven, trust is hard to come by these days, especially from fallen. That being said, I find it very difficult to trust your species in general after all of the carnage I've seen. But to be honest, I do fear that Kai may accidentally kill me and many more without a mentor. So, feel free to come with us."

(Breven rips off a piece of the banner and uses it to patch his wound. He finishes tying it and wraps the banner on his back again. Then he gets up and approaches Kai.)

Breven: "Kai, that is your name yes?"

Kai: "Yeah."

Breven: "Have you ever had a family Kai?"

Kai: "What's a family?"

Breven: "A family is a group of people that really care about each other. You live together, share experiences like no one else, and you protect each other from anything."

Kai: "That sounds nice."

Breven: "I used to have a family. But the longer I spent with them, the more I started to realize that it wasn't a family. We all just banded together to survive. We killed, stole, and left everything we touched with gaping scars, including ourselves. I saw all of this yesterday and tried to justify it, saying it was for the family. But then I realized one very important thing Kai."

Kai: "What was it?"

Breven: "Family is not about who you live with, its who you would die for. And there was no way in hell that I would die for any of them."

(pause)

Breven: "I ran away with Owl, hoping to at least save one last person before I die. And guess who that was."

Kai: "I'm not good at guessing things."

Breven: (chuckles) "You. It was you. And then you saved me."

Kai: "I had to do something, you were gonna die if I didn't."

Breven: "Which brings me to my point. I was wondering if we could be a family. You, Owl, and me."

Kai: "That sounds cool."

Breven: "So, what do you say?"

Kai: "I'd love to."

Breven: "Great. Now, let's go get you some food."