Chapter 10
1 Day Later
It had barely been a day since she had received her wound, but it had already completely healed. The girl stood pulled the 2 strange looking hairpins with skulls on the ends from her hair, letting her hair fall down her back, reaching about mid-back. The girl stood up on her tiptoes and reached up and slid the hairpins into the lock of the cage she was trapped in, and began fiddling with the lock. Her heartbeat sped up as she heard noises from outside the large chamber the cage was in, but she dared not try to move any faster in case she dropped one of the hairpins. The girl heard a soft click, and then the door to the cage opened just a little, enough to let her know she could escape.
Quietly, she pushed the door the rest of the way open and slowly and carefully lowered herself out, but she was still hanging a good 10ft above the ground. The Girl let out a small breath and dropped to the ground, landing on her feet and then rolling forward to change her momentum to stop herself from receiving any sort of injury. The girl carefully and quickly redid her hair and replaced the hairpins to keep it up. From a few feet away, behind a small wall, she heard a hiss and a sigh. Slowly, she pulled up one pant leg and slid the knife her father had given her from the hidden sheath on her leg, and crept over to the noise. She peeked around the corner of the wall, and saw a sleeping Hive Knight.
Without even thinking about it, the girl ran up and jumped onto the Knight and plunged her blade into it's third eye, and as it awoke and reared it's head to roar, she slit it's throat, so that instead of a roar, all it did was gurgle, and then die. The girl smiled, proud of herself and turned and ran, slipping into a tunnel she'd seen the Thralls using yesterday, disappearing from the room.
Mere seconds after the girl vanished into the tunnel, Oryx came bursting into the throne room where the cage was, laughing all the while.
"Come girl, it is time for the rit…" Oryx began, but stopped as he stared at the empty cage, hanging from the ceiling with the door wide open. Oryx let out a deep snarl and dropped down to the ground, no longer flying and let out a roar of anger, causing his two remaining daughters, Ir Anuk and Ir Halak, who are also the two that kept their gifted names, to come floating in, confused until they saw the empty cage.
"Father." Ir Anuk began in her screeching whisper of a voice, "It appears that the girl was just as resilient as her father." Ir Halak made a noise, and Ir Anuk growled at her.
"Are the two of you still fighting over which of you will get the girl's father once we have him?" Oryx sighed, raising back up into the air and pushing his daughters out of the way to leave the room as he headed for his War Room. Ir Anuk and Ir Halak rushed after Oryx.
"I say he should be mine, Anuk gets all the good things because she is the one that always kills the invaders. It's not fair." Ir Halak said, pouting(although no one could really tell).
"I could care less, keep me out of your fight. Now, I need you two to hunt that girl done and bring her to me, ALIVE. Now go." Oryx snarled, and both daughters just stared at him for a moment. "I SAID GO!" Oryx snapped, and both of his daughters zipped off down the hallway, each going a different direction. Oryx opened the doors to his War Room and froze when he saw what was within. Sitting at the head of the table, was the only Guardian that Oryx feared. Oryx had managed to pay off the cabal to kill him, and they mostly definitely had, they had killed everything on the whole damn planet, but here he was, sitting at the head of his table with all of his generals dead in their seats with either their throats slit or filled with bullet holes.
"Long time no see, Oryx." Naref chuckled, leaning back in the chair, wearing the armor he'd designed to resemble a Hive Knight.
"You… you're dead. The Cabal obliterated you, and the planet you were on." Oryx said quietly, dropping down to land on the ground.
"Clearly, they failed." Naref said as he got up and his armor changed, going back to his regular coloring and design. "You see, I'm not very happy about that. We had a deal, you leave the girl be, you get to live. Well, you tried to kill me and now the girl is missing. I heard that she was here, but I couldn't find her. So, I came in here to ask them, and they tried to kill me. Hence them being dead. So. Where. Is. The. Girl?" Naref snarled, his voice dropping down to a deadly whisper.
"I… I don't know." Oryx said, pulling all his power to him to get ready to teleport away. "She escaped her prison." Naref sighed and stood, readying his Gjallarhorn.
"Well, then your usefulness has expired." Naref snarled before firing the rocket. The second the rocket would have hit Oryx, Oryx simply vanished as if he were never there, and the rocket streaked out into the hallway and slammed into the forcefield Ir Anuk had just put up to defend herself. Ir Anuk took one look at Naref, and then she let out a shriek which echoed throughout the entire ship and then she vanished, just like Oryx. Naref sighed and transmatted to his ship, moments before a massive swarm of Hive came flooding into the room, then, seeing nothing, disperse. Unknown to them all, hidden barely 10ft away from where Naref had been, in one of the secret tunnels, the girl had seen everything and now fled back into the tunnel.
As the girl fled deeper into the ship, she knew one thing. If she were to escape, she would need to somehow get ahold of one of the Guardian Ships she had seen on her way in with Oryx. But before she could do that, she needed to find her sword. And then, maybe, she would prove to her father she was capable of becoming a Guardian, just like him. The girl smiled as her Ghost, yes, Her Ghost(for she had died and been resurrected with her father) materialized to light her way.
Ryan maneuvered his ship into a fleet of Hive Tombships, praying they would not attack him, and his prayers were answered. Instead of attacking, the Knight flying the lead ship used the Hive mental connection to ask him who and what he was. Ryan only responded by setting his ship to autopilot and disengaging weapons, and that was apparently enough for the Knight. Ryan climbed from his seat and went to inspect himself in the mirror once again. It had been a day since he had taken the life of a Guardian, and, as Oryx had said earlier, it was the beginning of his Initiation into the Hive. Ryan did not want to join the Hive, but he could not return to the tower, for any reason. Ryan looked into his three green eyes and sighed. At this point, he had lost everything. Shannon was dead, he had lost what little of his human appearance he'd had left, and his ghost had warped and changed from the contact with his darkness. Yet, something seemed strange about all this. He felt freer than before, even though the Hive had a Hive Mind, he found that each Hive could defy the Hive Mind as they pleased, they just did not due to the tyranny of the leaders. He had also begun to learn more about the history of the Hive. They had once worked with The Traveller, but the Traveller had betrayed them. It had decided they were of no more use to it, and created an army, the first Hunters, to destroy them. The Hive had proved more resourceful than the Traveller had suspected, and they had managed to steal some of it's light and eventually, their desire for revenge had twisted the Light to fight them and had altered their appearances. Ryan lifted one clawed hand and flexed his fingers, and watched as the muscles moved under his skin. Ryan closed his eyes and imagined himself doing the same, but as a human still, back when he used to have no control over his anger issues. Ryan's eyes jerked open when he felt a sudden burning sensation all over himself, and started to freak out when he realised he couldn't see. Just as quickly as it started, the burning faded and his vision cleared, but was odd, as if he no longer had his third eye. Ryan shook his head and looked down at his hand, and felt his heart skip a beat as he stared down at a VERY human hand. He jerked his head up and stared into the mirror, and began to laugh as he stared at his own face. Somehow, he had gone back to looking like his human self, but he could still tell that the Hive was still within him, it was just hiding. Ryan slipped back into his seat and disengaged autopilot and veered out of the fleet and turned his ship back towards Earth. If he could keep his Hive appearance hidden, then he might be able to claim that he was being set up. There was always that Zara girl to throw the blame at, since everyone knew she had Hive in her.
Ana stood in her bathroom, gripping the edge of the sink as another wave of agony went through her body. It had started that morning. She had awoken to a sudden burst of pain and they had been coming, more and more frequently. Ana looked up into the mirror and stared at herself. Her eyes were glowing and had turned a greenish orange. As another wave hit her, she stumbled back against the wall and sank to the ground and curled up on the floor. Another wave hit her, stronger than all the others and she covered her eyes and began to cry. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but it hurt. It hurt so much, it made her want to shoot herself. She wanted to get up and go to the hospital, but she couldn't move due to the pain. Ana grabbed her comm unit and tried to send a message to Edward, who was out with Belen, but she was shaking too much to type out a message, and she knew he couldn't receive calls till he got a new unit, so she called the only other contact on her list, Shaxx. He picked up after the first 'ring'.
"Hey Ana. What's up?" Shaxx said. In the background there was what sounded like an explosion, so he was probably in the middle of training.
"I n-need help. It hurts… everywhere. I…" Ana started, and then another wave of agony hit her and she gasped and started crying more.
"Ana! Where are you!? Why isn't Edward with you!?" Shaxx said, and then there was a loud noise, like an air horn.
"He's… out with… Belen. I'm… at home… I can't remember… where." Another wave of agony passed through Ana, and that one was too much, cause she passed out.
Shaxx opened the door to Ana's and Edward's apartment in the upper district of the Last city and looked around.
"Ana!?" He called, receiving no answer. Shaxx went through the small house, looking in each room and each closet, until finally, only the two bathrooms were left. The one out in the hall was empty, so Shaxx went and knocked on the door to the locked bathroom in the master bedroom.
"Ana?" Shaxx called as he knocked. When no answer came, Shaxx had his ghost unlock the door. Lying on the floor, curled up by the sink, was Ana. She was unconscious and barely breathing, and as Shaxx moved closer, he saw that there was blood coming from the corner of her mouth. Shaxx quickly called for the medical units from the Tower, since they were better than any in the city, and then he picked up Ana's comm unit and quickly sent a few messages to Edward, telling him what was going on, and that Ana was being taken to the Tower. Edward replied that he'd meet them there, and a few minutes later, the medical unit arrived, had Ana on a stretcher and had her back to the tower in barely 5 minutes.
Ana opened her eyes, and looked around. At first, there was nothing. Just darkness. Then everything cleared and she was standing in the middle of a large chamber, sort of like an area that with stands filled to the brim with watching Hive. From the large cave like opening a figure came into a view. It was a massive Knight with a strange glowing sword. Ana's heart dropped when she figured out who, and what, it was. Crota, for that was who it was, stepped from the shadows and the opening behind him vanished. Ana shook her head and stumbled backwards, refusing to believe it was real. She had put help put Crota down when they raided they Hellmouth. Then she realized, it wasn't real, it couldn't be real. She was dreaming, Crota couldn't hurt her.
"That is where you are wrong, girl." Crota snarled, stabbing his sword down in front of him. "Yes, we are in your mind. However, I can still kill you. You are my greatest enemy, and therefore, for my return, I want you as my general. Join me, or I will eliminate your mind and give your body to Omnigul."
"You know I will never surrender to you. I beat you once, I can do it again. You will NEVER return as long as I draw breath." Ana snarled, summoning her Nightstalker bow.
"You think you can fight ME!? How hilarious. You are weak, girl. The Hive DNA in your body is rebelling against you, attacking the rest of your body and eradicating the human within you and replacing it with Hive." Crota laughs, as he spreads his arms and the Hive in the stands pour down into the stadium. "The Hive within you will fight you, it will over run you, and there is nothing you can do to stop it." Crota vanishes, and Ana switches to Blade Dancer right as the Hive charge, and she dashes into their midst, killing every Hive she can get her blade into.
Mere moments after Ryan's ship re entered Earth's atmosphere, every single one of his lock on warning went off, and he disengaged his weapons and sent a hail request, which was immediately answered by Zavala.
"You better have a DAMN good reason for returning Hive boy. You have 20 seconds to give me a good reason before I shoot you down." Zavala snarled.
"With all do respect, sir. You do not have the authority to shoot me down unless given permission by Cayde." Ryan said calmly.
"Yeah, Zavala, you will never get my permission to shoot down one of my Hunters." Cayde said, from the background.
"So, I have returned with some information." Ryan began, quickly running back through his story. "Zepheron and Zara have been working with Oryx since Zepheron was captured. Zara is actually the youngest of Oryx's daughters, and there is a large army of Hive and Taken on Mars and Venus, waiting for the single to attack us. Zepheron and Zara were sent here to kill you, Cayde, and Ikora. Zara tried to frame me for Baris-7's death by using her shapeshifting abilities to take on a form similar to me but Hive warped, and killed Baris-7 and tried to kill me, but I fled and they tried to follow but vanished." Zavala huffed at Ryan's story, then the 3 of them could be heard arguing, and then all the weapons disengaged and the Tower hangar opened, inviting Ryan to land. Ryan piloted his ship in and transmatted out, and was surprised to see that only Zavala was there, and Zavala was surprised by Ryan not being Hive warped. Zavala waved Ryan away and stalked off, a clear message telling Ryan to go about his business and he would be called later.
Shannon snapped awake and looked around. She was no longer in the Cave, but in a bed on what looked like the medbay of a Fallen Ketch. Shannon haltingly got up and went to the little window and saw that they were orbiting Mars.
"Ah. You are awake." A Fallen hissed from behind Shannon. Shannon spun around and saw it was the Fallen from the cave. "My friends, a lost Fallen House, arrived and took us from the Cave. Our Technicians are working on repairing your friend, but the damage done to him is incredible. I would advise you refrain from speaking, we had to perform surgery on you to fix your broken collarbone, and you awoke in the middle of it and we accidently damaged your vocal cords." Shannon remained silent and nodded, reaching up to touch the bandages around her shoulders and throat that she had not noticed before. Shannon tried to speak, just to test it, and a sharp spike of pain went through her, causing her to gasp and shake her head. The Vandal chuckled and left the room, and Shannon sat back down. Her ship was gone, she couldn't talk and was stuck on a Fallen Ketch of an unknown house. This week was just getting better and better. Shannon leaned her head back and let out a long sigh. This was gonna be a long day.
Edward sat by Ana's bedside, slowly rocking the sleeping Belen in his arms. He sat there, running through that morning in his head, trying to see if there had been any signs of something being wrong. Again and again, he went over the details, how she'd acted when being woken up, eating breakfast, anything, but there was nothing. Nothing was odd about her behaviour, yet here she was now, lying in a hospital bed, in a coma. According to what the doctors had said, something within her that had lain dormant had awoken and was trying to take her over. Edward laid his head back, still watching Ana and Belen, and slowly fell asleep.
4 Hours later…
Ana stumbled back from the Hive, climbing the walls of the Stadium to escape them. She knew now that she could not win. There was an endless horde, and eventually, they'd tire her out and she'd lose. She knew of only way to fight them now, and that was to not fight, but accept her fate. Ana reached the top of the stadium, and sat down. She was done fighting, she had accepted her fate. Suddenly, the entire world around her cracked, like someone had just hit glass, and then it shattered and fell away, leaving her in a void of darkness. Crota expected her to keep fighting till his rebirth, but she wasn't going to. She was not going to give him what he wanted. All the Hive turned to green smoke, and flowed over to Ana, and seemed to soak into her skin. Unknown to her, in the real world, her skin had taken on a green tint. As the smoke soaked in, Ana felt a weight lift from her mind.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Crota's booming voice echoed through this world she was in, the world of her own mind.
"I have accepted my fate. The Hive is apart of me, and there is nothing I can do to change it. You, on the other hand, do not belong here. This is my body, my mind, my power. Go find your own." Ana said calmly. With that, Crota's presence vanished, and Ana felt herself rising back to consciousness.
Edward jerked awake when he heard Ana gasp, and opened his eyes to see Ana sit up, and look at her hands, smiling.
"Ana, what the hell happened? Are you okay?" Edward hissed, making sure not to wake Belen.
"I'm fine. Better than ever, to be honest." Ana said, strangely calm. Ana raised one hand and balled it into a fist, and her eyes began to glow as Hyper concentrated Hive magic mixed with her Light.
"Ana, what's that?" Edward asked quietly. Ana got up out of the bed and smiled as armor, a clear mix of Hive and Guardian styling in it, formed on her body.
Ana smiled before she spoke, her eyes getting brighter. "It is my power. I have Awoken to my fate. From now on, I am no longer Human. I am Awoken, an Awoken Hive, and Oryx will fear my power."
Sorry for taking so long. I've been a little wrapped up in other things. Here it is, Chapter 10. I have a lot to do, so chapter 11 shall wait. Mid-March at the absolute latest.
