A Long Shadow

Sometime in a possible future.

Hunter Celeste Etain stood in her bedroom, staring at a pair of helmets that were sitting on one level of the bookshelf she'd set up in the corner. It carried more momentos than actual books, though it did hold a few of those as well. Each of the various trinkets held different levels of significance to her, but the two helmets were the most important. One was an old, battered Hunter helm that she found in one of the damaged and abandoned towers, the one that her father, Titan Claney Beamard, used to take her to in order to secretly train before she was allowed to actually be a Guardian. The other had belonged to him, and it was a gift that she had given him.

The two helmets were actually connected. She'd worn the Hunter helmet to hide her identity when she had acquired the other one as a gift. Unable to actually buy any gear, she'd convinced a random Titan to purchase it for her by disguising herself as a Guardian, claiming that she was too busy to do it herself, and giving him the glimmer, which she had earned by working with Eva Levante. She'd then painted a large smiley face on the faceplate of the helmet.

She was amazed sometimes that both helmets had survived the destruction of the old Guardian Tower by the Cabal during the Red War. Claney's helmet had been in his room, and Painted Truth's quarters, while not unscathed, had been spared the worst of the damage the Cabal's bombardment had inflicted. Celeste had kept hers in the vault, and it was one of the few items of hers that had not been totally lost. Just another attack on the City that the old piece of armor had somehow made it through when others didn't, though it did bear a few new scars.

There was another helmet that she wished she had next to them, another helmet that had belonged to Claney, but Warlock Zillah Arvid-Beamard, his wife, had that one. It was the helmet that he had worn when he died.

Celeste, Claney, and Zillah had been on a mission and gotten overwhelmed by an overwhelming force. They'd been fighting for their lives, wounded, running low on ammo, and found themselves surrounded and trapped. Claney had erected a Ward of Dawn, and the three of them were inside it, sheltered from the enemy shots that splattered against the purple dome.

Claney had taken off his helmet and thrown it to the ground in frustration. Celeste could still remember the look in his eyes, the desperation that was there. It was something she had never seen from him before. He had looked from her to Zillah, then back again, then echoed something he had said to them in the Red War, when they had been cut off from each other by a force field.

"Take care of her," he said, and once again neither of them were sure who he was addressing it to.

His hands clenched into fists and he brought them to his chest. He had closed his eyes, his face tightening in concentration. When they opened again, they were no longer green, but purple and glowing with Void Light. He turned those strange eyes to the two of them again, then flung his arms out violently. There was a flash of Light, and Celeste had been forced to turn away from her father. That let her see what happened next.

At his motion, the shell of his Ward of Dawn had expanded outward, almost faster than she could see. The Void Light had disintegrated the enemies that surrounded them and continued outward, passing through the walls in the cavern. Their enemies were gone.

And so was her father.

When Celeste turned back to where Claney had been standing, he was no longer there. All that remained was a faint Void glow on the ground that was slowly fading, and his Ghost, Elgan, lying at an odd angle beside it. Elgan's eye was dark. Zillah and Celeste stood alone.

"Claney?" Zillah's voice had been barely above a whisper. The Awoken woman stepped forward, dropping to her knees and placing a hand on the fading Light. She called his name again, a note of panic noticeable in her voice. "Claney?"

There had been no answer. Celeste had whisper try every Guardian frequency, but he wasn't on any of them either. She watched as Zillah scooped up the dark, silent form of Elgan, then picked up Claney's helmet. She set the Ghost inside if, and then cradled it to her chest.

Celeste had broken down then, sobbing. Zillah motioned for her to come close, and Celeste had rushed over to her, clinging to her robes. The two women sat there in the cave, alone, holding on to each other like life preservers for a long time.

Several years had passed since that incident. Celeste had continued on with her duties, leading Fireteam Painted Truth, a position she had been handed by her father when he had stepped down after the Red War. She had almost given it up after he died, left to find another team or just disappear into the wilds as some Hunters did, because every day it reminded her of him, but she had decided to stay for the same reason. Every day it reminded her of him, and pushed her to be the best Guardian that she could be for him. She wanted him to be proud of her, wherever he was.

Besides, she couldn't just disappear. She had to stick around to be a mentor for a very special young Guardian.

As if on cue, there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," Celeste called out, and the door opened. In bounded a small girl, five years old and bursting with energy.

"Sissy!" she shouted and flung herself at Celeste, an added boost of Light flinging her forward.

The little girl slammed into Celeste, and the Hunter staggered backward as she wrapped her arms around her. The back of her legs hit her bed and she fell backward, the two of them landing on the bed in a heap, the little girl laughing. The star-shape of a Ghost drifted into the room after her.

"Hey, Adara," Celeste said, looking at the grinning child. The young girl had a blue tint to her skin, showing her Awoken heritage, though she lacked the shimmer just beneath the skin that most Awoken had. The green eyes and red hair were all her father's however.

She had been born around eight months after Claney had died. Zillah hadn't even known that she was pregnant when they had gone on that mission. Fortunately, she had never died and been resurrected during the battle, in large part thanks to Claney stepping in and shielding her on multiple occasions.

Guardians rarely got pregnant, and fewer still saw the pregnancy go to term and result in a live birth. No one was quite sure why. Clearly the frequency of Guardian deaths and rebirths were a factor. If a Guardian were to die without knowing that she was pregnant, and the Ghost revived her, it would result in her body being restored to a previous state. There was speculation about the fact that most Guardians had been dead at one point being part of the issue, others thought it had something to do with the original revival process changing their physical functions in some way, and others thought it might just be a result of the Light. Whatever the reason, it was a rare and celebrated event when a child was born to a Guardian.

It had been a difficult pregnancy for Zillah, and they'd had to induce early due to complications, but Adara Arvid-Beamard had entered the world healthy, if a little undersized. Then, shortly before her first birthday, a Ghost had found her and eventually bonded with her, so now there was a child Guardian running around the Farm, and the Tower when she came to visit.

"Hey, guess what," Adara said, bounding up onto her feet. "Celeste. Celeste, guess what."

"What?"

"No, you have to guess."

"Uhm," the Hunter paused, trying to come up with an answer. "The Vanguard declared you ready for field duties and you're going on your first mission."

Adara laughed, "No! There's a new cow on the farm! He's a little baby cow, and I named him Mooey."

"Mooey?"

"Yeah, Mooey. And he's a baby cow, and he's little like me, and we're going to be best friends. I'm going to feed him and raise him, and be his friend."

"Is that right?"

"Uh huh. We're going to be best friends, and no one is going to eat him, because I won't let them, because I love him." The little girl began to jump on the bed. "Mooey, Mooey, Mooey!"

Celeste couldn't help but chuckle at the little girl's enthusiasm and antics. She forced her face into a frown, though, and said, "Aww, I thought I was your best friend."

Adara threw her arms around the Hunter's neck. "You're my best sister. Mooey is my best friend, and… Ooh, helmets." She was looking and pointing at the two helmets that Celeste had been looking at before she came in. "Daddy's helmets."

"No," Celeste corrected her. "This one was daddy's," she pointed to the smiley face helmet. "This one is mine."

"Try on!" Adara said, making grabby motions at the old hunter helmet.

"You want to put on my helmet?" Celeste asked.

"Uh huh! Try on."

Celeste thought about it for a moment, then stood up and carefully took the relic off the shelf. She held it out to Adara, and the little girl took it and slammed it over her head. "I'm you now! You put on that one."

Adara was pointing at Claney's helmet. Celeste stared at it for several moments.

"Put it ooonnnnnnnnnn," Adara cajoled.

Celeste picked it up, more gently than she had picked up her own and looked at it, seeing her own reflection in the smiley face. She turned it around and slid it over her head. Instantly, the HUD lit up, giving her a tactical view of the room.

"Now I'm you, and you're daddy!" Adara said. "Let's go fight bad guys!"

The little girl jumped off the bed and dashed out of the room, making gun noises. Celeste watched her go. "I'm you, and you're daddy." The words echoed in her head. She turned her head to the left, catching sight of her reflection on the dresser mirror, looking at herself in Claney's helmet.

"I'm you and you're daddy."

Celeste had helped a young Guardian before, trying to do for that girl what Claney had done for her. This was different though. A weight of expectation and responsibility settled on her shoulders then. It wasn't the first time that she felt something like this about Adara, but it was stronger now. She was going to have to be responsible for her sister in a way that she hadn't been for someone before.

"I'll make you proud, Dad," she said, reaching up to touch the side of the helmet. She turned and followed the young girl out of her room. "Let's get those bad guys."

…

AN

Missed the first two days of Destcember, but wanted to take part. Just like Inktober, I know I won't get every day, but I want to try to get as many in as I can.

I was actually working on a sequel to When the Sun Winds Down in late October/early November, thinking I could get it done as a NaNoWriMo work, but that didn't happen, as I felt a little burned out. This has provided a little inspiration, so I hope to get back to that soon.