Remember
"Have you ever wondered what I used to be?"
A small, floating drone with a green optic looks down towards a cloaked figure, who was silent for the past three hours, forty seven minutes and sixteen seconds. A huge leap in social skill, based on past experiences. Normally, he would have to guess what they're feeling, based on how much time he's spent with a mute powered by a dying god's will/philosophy and a somewhat decent head screwed on.
Most of the time, that is.
Currently, the two of them are sitting at the top of an old, nearly falling apart ruin of what might have been an industrial complex, but has since been reclaimed by nature. It's original purpose might have been metallurgy, but any records of what it truly did was washed away by time. Sitting in front of his Guardian is the pieces of their (somewhat) more recent stints into helping the Sol system move on just a bit longer. Their job was to keep an eye on a literal time machine, and it somehow ended with his Guardian breaking the laws of the universe (yet again) just to bring back a weapon for somebody that was supposed to be dead to rights via Vex; and they ended up being gifted it.
Speaking of, he has a question to answer, one that didn't stop the weapon's maintenance.
"Careful, questions like those are taboo."
The Guardian huffs. "So everything else we've done hasn't been taboo?" They shake their head. "Honestly, I'm surprised that we haven't been exiled, like Osiris has been."
"True," He bobs in a mockery of a shrug. "But something tells me it's bad form for the Vanguard to give their best card no leeway. Not to say I'm not thankful; I'm not sure where else to get such good shell repair."
They scoff. "Wow, that hurts coming from someone who had to do it during Ghaul's stint. You're saying I'm awful?"
The Ghost's shell nods almost instantly. "The worst. I wouldn't want it to happen to any other Ghost." Which wasn't true at all; his Guardian was a bit of an adept at all things jerry-riged, and they know how to make things more than functional. This fascination all started with the Vex, and it just went downhill from there. He blames Atheon for that, making his Guardian all determined to save a few cubes of glimmer to keep things running. Hence why they rarely ever see Banshee for actual business. Of course, their true power comes from being highly perceptive.
"Well, Mr. Ungrateful, you're still have to answer my question." And there's the perceptiveness that he knows and loves. "I mean, based on what I know, I probably died to a shot to the abdomen, right? So my corpse was... what, just lying there? Or was I a skeleton; I was fairly late to be rezzed, right?"
His silence was... tense, as much as a Ghost can really do without having a human facial structure to look pensive. His Guardian doesn't say anything else, finishing up the last of their piece's checkup before holstering it and looking at him through their mask visor. Patient.
"I'll admit, I have no idea who you were going to be." At the tilt of his Guardian's head, he moves his shell in a 'squint'. "I will get to it, just... When I scanned through the Cosmodrome, it wasn't the first time I've done it. I've been through that place twice already, from border to border, and it's a place I went to for... a break, essentially. The area was picked clean; both by Fallen and other Ghosts, and I just got back from trying my hand at finding someone on Venus. Terrible idea, by the way; the rain was awful." He feels the weight of their gaze on him and keeps going.
"But then... something changed. There was an old mound of sorts, one that has a number of old, old skeletons within it, and I thought it would just be another routine to 'keep my mind occupied'- then..." He rotates his shell, thinking. "I... felt something. I knew there was nothing there, because absolutely nothing has changed for over a century since the Coyotes rolled through, at least in that area, and I just wasn't expecting, well, you. The thing is, I didn't find a body. There was nothing to give away your existence, but it sort of felt like 'I'm tired of searching, just give me someone, anyone at all please.' and then I got it."
He looks over at his Guardian, looking both haunted and excited. "I found a strand of something that felt like it needed some Light. And then the rest you know." He shakes his shell out. "It was something that I just couldn't shake off, and it all felt like a dream, but then you took down the Black Heart and it sort of cemented everything."
"So..." His Guardian rolled their head, looking at the ruins of the EDZ around them. It's truly a marvel that it's still standing, to some degree. Sometimes, it hard to remember how humanity can keep going, despite living in the very physical reminder of what the Darkness did to it. "What, I was some miracle Risen, or something?"
"To be honest, I thought you were going to be an Exo. No- seriously, I've heard some Ghost-only transmissions that they found their Exo-Guardians as a bit of Saph-wire, and that bit of conversation led to wondering if there was a bit of lingering code just lying around somewhere and it'll just give you an Exo as a Guardian." He gives his Guardian a mock-conspiratorial look. "Which is totally a myth. I think."
"I dunno," His Guardian looks down at themselves. "I think I would've looked good in plasteel plating. Would've explained the eyes a bit more, really."
He nods his head. "True. I haven't seen a human who-" They stop, getting a message from... "Oh, Chrys is at it again."
"What now? Did he find another plot hole in the recent addition of Golden Age: A History?"
He hums a small laugh. The warlock could go on a rant about anything pertaining to history, honestly. "No, but if it was I wouldn't have told you. Apparently he... huh." His fins shift once. "Apparently it's a plot hole. For Earth."
His Guardian tilts their head. "...what?"
"Apparently there's a lot of water just... missing."
"Water." Their voice is deadpan. "He's throwing a fit. Over water."
"Well, if there's water missing for no good reason, that's a bit of a cause for concern on if we're running out of it or not." He gives the surroundings one more scan before focusing on the report. "Although it looks like he's missing that point."
"I'm not surprised."
"Right. Oh..." He tilts exactly thirty three degrees clockwise. "Well, he says it's less of a problem with the planet running out of water, but that based on water returning to the ice caps on the poles, it should be returning at a measurable rate, especially with the equipment he has on hand. But... it isn't."
"Huh. Weird." They let out a stretch, a groan coming from them. "Well, I'm certain he'll tell me all about it after I finish up this patrol."
He nods, shooting off a message to Chrys' Ghost about setting up a meet at the ramen stand. It wasn't their usual haunt, but-
"I've been thinking about him, again. Cayde."
-that. "Yeah?"
"We had a time machine." They start, shoulders tensing ever so slightly. Slowly, his Guardian drifts to the edge of the roof and sits, head facing the direction of the Last City. "I know the Sundial was meant for one very specific purpose, but it's still connected to the Forest." Their head twitches a bit, the shoulders becoming a bit more bunched up. "Anything that goes into the Forest is forever part of it's machinations, and there was a chance that he could've gone into there. I bet if he had anything to do with Mercury, though, he wouldn't have told anyone about it. The..." They throw their hands up uselessly. "The 'perks' of working alone; nobody knows where you went off to."
He waits. When it's clear they're waiting for him to say something, he says "Sundial's gone, now. Osiris probably shoved the thing in a place that has no time. A place beyond it's corridors, beyond..."
He silently finishes. They hear the missing words loud and clear.
It's another three hours, forty seven minutes and sixteen seconds before they suggest the both of them need a vacation. A working one, of course, but it's high time they do some 'unscheduled recon of a detected water shortage on Earth.' Of course, it would take a while to get out that they did so; they'll left a note written in Eliksni for Amanda to give directly to Zavala, Ikora, or Saint if they show up and ask.
You know, for safety reasons.
But first, they watch the fruits of their labor; of cooperating once more with the Warmind, building its power throughout the system, and unleash it at the most recent threat.
His Guardian said the Almighty's detonation was beautiful. He had to disagree, of course. Breaking things always made it unpleasant.
He tries not to think of the small lie he gave to his guardian about knowing nothing of her past. Of her scars, both outside and within.
So... hey.
It's been a while, for anyone that has seen any of my other stories. I've tried my hand at trying to continue them, only for it to die off because, well, what I wanted to do with it was a bit too ambitious. Polarized is in a bit of a hellscape between wanting to continue it, but I can't get it onto paper for what I want to do with it, and all my other stories are things that I haven't thought about in years. That, and my job has been sucking the life out of me, and all the creativity along with it. So, this will be a sort of demo if things will keep going in the writing department.
On the other hand, this story... ho boy, I started on this thing months ago, and it took me up until about a week ago to get close to finishing the third piece. They're not long, but that's because I want to to feel right, and having bloated stories is a bit much. This prologue isn't much, and the next couple of chapters aren't much bigger in length, but it's a build up. For what, you might ask?
Well, this is my first crossover story (well, one that hit this site, I think Polarized was going to be one for a hot second there from all the Marvel references I dropped) and Destiny is full of enough wiggle room to make this work. Kind of. There's going to be a lot of suspension of belief when it comes to canon stuff to make things work, and some is straight up either theories from lack of information, or straight up fanon.
I'm rambling. What else needs to be addressed... oh, right!
I am going to recommend a story, and yeah, it's straight up what inspired me to write this story, and it's going to have a lot of similarities. And, unlike me, they write more often, have a friggin Beta to help them edit, and the stories (because yes, they're crazy enough to have their stories share the same little universe) are phenomenal. Seriously, some of their little moments brought me to hysterics and I just had to set my phone down to get my stuff back together and see straight again.
The author is Keltoi, who can be found on this site, and the first story that I would recommend reading is 'Stargazer', a Destiny X Inheritance Cycle crossover that blew. My. Mind. If you are trained in Destiny lore, the amount of connections made will rock your world. Go read this guy's stuff, it's fantastic.