Breathe in. Breathe out.

Frea laid perfectly still on her stomach at the top of an outcropping five hundred meters from a Cabal base. She blended into the rock with only the red glint of her Zen Meteor to give away her position. Breathe in, the deep roar of her gun echoed off the stone and one of the giant patrolling Cabal fell to the ground in flames. Breathe out. Frea was more of a run and gun type of Hunter, preferring a shotgun over a sniper. Though, she couldn't help but feel a rush a satisfaction whenever an enemy's head exploded in her scope. Breath in, another guard down. Her gunfire was drowned out by the Cabal's noisy drilling machines, but they were starting to take notice of their missing comrades. She was going to have to move soon.

A chattering of static suddenly resonated in her ear, breaking her concentration.

"Guardian." Her Ghost spoke up in her comm. "You have a call."

"Who is it?" She grumbled.

"It's Psyho."

The huntress pulled up her sniper and backed away from the perch. "Let her through, Ghost."

The click of someone joining her comm sounded and was soon followed by an obnoxiously loud voice.

"Frea!"

The huntress flinched, her ears ringing. "Psyho, for the love of the Traveler don't yell into the comm. I think my eardrum is bleeding."

Psyho gave her classic cheery laugh, "Sorry sorry. Heard you might need some company today. Need some help getting relic iron?"

Frea paused for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "Dex told on me didn't he?"

Another laugh from the other end. "Only to me. You know he'd never say anything to the entire clan."

Frea looked up to peer over the Cabal base, watching the countless soldiers inside. Dex tended to worry too much over her, even so much as to actually tell their friend Psyho about this morning. Even so, Frea didn't feel annoyed. She really could use the company, and especially the company of a Titan at that.

"I need twenty more pieces of iron and a Cabal base is blocking the way." A smile formed over the huntress's lips. "Wanna race?"

"The first to kill one hundred gets a free lunch?" Psyho challenged.

"At that sweet ramen shop Cayde always talks about?" Frea pulled out her shotgun and loaded it. "You're on."

The battle was hard fought. Not because the Cabal were difficult, but because Frea was trying her hardest to keep up with the titaness. They eventually wiped out the entire base and easily took down the commander, but it was Psyho who landed the last killing shot on him.

"A-ha!" She hollered. "Free food!"

"How about best to three?" Frea stopped to catch her breath. "Besides, you wouldn't have been able to kill him it is wasn't for my Shadowshot."

"Excuses, excuses." Psyho stooped down to open a nearby chest. The inside gleamed red with relic iron. "Most importantly, we scored a nice stash of material for you."

"Yeah," the huntress said as she examined some of the pieces, they definitely found quite the stockpile.

"Speaking of which..." The titaness dropped a shard of iron back into the chest. "You could have just bought some from the Vanguard vendor in the Tower. Why come get it yourself?"

Frea felt the blood run into her cheeks, good thing she was masked. "Just you know, sometimes I like doing things the old fashioned way." She awkwardly coughed. That makes two stupid lies today.

Psyho stared at her for a bit then finally shrugged. "Ok, anyway let's go. Kicking Cabal ass makes me hungry."

"You're always hungry, Psyho." Frea laughed.

The night was a welcome change to the long day. Frea waved goodbye to Psyho and walked out of the ramen shop into the chilly air. She glanced up at the waxing moon. It was one night before a full moon, one night before Xur came to the Tower. The mysterious member of the Nine visited on rare occasions and no one has yet to figure out how exactly he came and went. Eventually everyone stopped caring and just continued to buy his wares, he seemed friendly enough anyway. He was now Frea's goal. The only way she could score her last needed material for Shaxx's sword, an exotic shard.

Thinking about the sword brought her mind back to this morning, back to Shaxx. Frea quickly shook her head and turned away from moon gazing. Exhaustion barely described what she felt right now. She spent the entire day running what happened this morning through her head over and over. Trying to decide if she should regret it or not. They were both in the wrong, he started the kiss but she reacted to it...strongly too. Frea thought about the Hive nest, when she caught Shaxx and they landed on top of each other. How he had touched her then. It was easy to see they both desired each other, at least she kinda hoped he did. But where will this lead to?

Frea sighed for the hundredth time that day, her breath making a small wisp in the air. She wondered if her life was this complicated before her destined end. Before she woke up in that ancient rusty car with a Ghost hovering in her face. Sure, it was probably dangerous and something terrible happened that caused her to die. But did she ever fall in love? Did she have a family? What was the Golden Age like? The huntress stopped at the railing overlooking the City. All the people down below weren't Guardians, they didn't have everlasting life. They were fragile.

She gripped the railing tightly, her knuckles cracking in the process. The Guardians existed to protect. They were granted another chance at life thanks to the Traveler. When Frea was tasked with her first mission years ago she ran into wanderers outside the City. Her and Dex fought off countless Fallen to get them behind the walls. They managed to save all but one, a human boy. Frea closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of holding the boy as she ran toward the wall. She was shot in the back by a Vandel and crashed into the snow just before reaching the goal. When she was revived she found the boy dead in her arms, killed by the same bullet that went through her chest. That moment she vowed to protect the City and the people who resided in it as best she could. She'd done so much since then, but the job was never done. Not until her Ghost was destroyed and she breathed her last.

A warm feeling started to form behind her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Shuffling in the darkness behind her broke Frea from her thoughts. Sensing a presence, her hand instinctively went to her belt where her knife rested. Before she could turn to confront the shadow, he stopped next to her. Moonlight shimmered over his orange and white helmet and the Crucible style Titan mark on his waist fluttered gently in the breeze. Frea didn't say anything as she sheathed her blade, her battle instinct quickly turned to nervousness as the adrenaline died inside her.

"Nice night." Shaxx was the first to break the silence.

"Yeah," she quietly replied, unsure what to do in this situation. She wasn't ready to face him quite yet.

Another silence stretched on so Frea snuck a glance up at him. His hands were clasped behind his back but he was clearly uneasy.

"I wanted to apologize for this morning." He spoke up again. "I didn't mean to offend-"

"You didn't! I just..." The huntress interrupted, her voice catching in her throat. Frea could feel the warmth behind her eyes growing heavier. She tried to force back the tears and found she didn't have the energy for it.

She looked down, not letting Shaxx see her face. He shouldn't have to see her cry. Not like this.

"Frea." His voice sounded gentle and she tilted her head back up. His hands met her cheeks and he carefully wiped away the water from her eyes. But as soon as he did so he froze, as if realizing the implications behind the gesture. Frea's face burned hot and she pulled away, wiping the tears with her palm.

"I-I should go. Goodnight, Lord Shaxx." She twisted around him and ran back toward the living quarters, not bothering to listen for his response.