Chapter XII: Unravel


He just didn't see it coming.

Not even once in his life has the idea of having children crossed his mind, mostly due to how much he was grieving since he executed his fiancée.

But it did just so happened to be.

Spectre, the spearhead of the Cyphers' so-called 'Absolution Directive', had a child. With his fiancée, no less!

"So, she's really…?" the Sunbreaker managed to support his upper half using his arms, lifting his head from his lover's lap and looking at the child. Again, the child smiled ever so innocently before proceeding to jump into his arms. He noticed that instead of his destroyed and battered armor, he was in his casual wear that he used during his date with Reaper.

Vesper looked down at her daughter and fiancée bonding, smiling. "I'm sorry, Spectre. I tried to tell you, but─"

"But then came the order for your elimination and you were corrupted by the time I found you," his daughter snuggled her head against his chest, and he awkwardly ran his hand against her hair. "Who knew? We were on the way to being married, but you had a surprise growing inside you." Guilt and remorse grew in him, and his daughter looked up at him. It was clear that she shared traits from both of her parents. She had her mother's emerald green eyes, but the shape of her eyes was his. Her hair was the same style as Vesper's─long and silky─, but had her right eye covered by some of her bangs like his.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Vesper, but isn't there supposed to be a 50-50 chance that our child will have blonde or black hair?" in response, Vesper playfully slapped the back of his head, causing their daughter to giggle.

"Obviously, you didn't pay attention in class."

"C'mon, learning about genetics was boring for the most part."

"Not when you're going to have a child," she 'scowled' at him. "Besides, unlike a certain Titan I know, Rose has been a good girl. Isn't that right, dear?"

"Yes, mommy!" Rose turned to face her father, sticking out her tongue. "Bad daddy! You hurt mommy's feelings!"

"Rose, huh…? Wonder why mommy gave you that name…"

Rose didn't stay mad at her father for too long and returned to her loving demeanor. Spectre sat straight up and put Rose on his lap, Vesper sitting next to him and causing their little girl to hug the both of them.

"Mommy gave me that name because of the red flowers! She said they remind her of you, daddy!"

"And speaking of flowers…" Vesper butted in, looking at her lover with a glint of love in her eyes, "Do you recognize this place, Spectre?"

The Sunbreaker looked around, noting the field they were in. The field was surrounded with flowers of many kinds, and the sky above them was all white like the familiar blue sky was covered by clouds. A gentle breeze ran across the area, the flowers swaying gracefully.

"This is… This is the field that you and I often played in when we were kids."

"And where we first confessed our love, and then where you proposed to me," Vesper fiddled around with a gold band around her ring finger, a rose engraving running across the surface and a gemstone with the same iridescence as Lightning's crystal embedded. "But, then again, it was also where…"

Spectre faced the ground shamefully, the memories of her execution by his hand coming in a flood. Out of all the memories he had with her in this field, from the times the two of them played in the field, to their confession and first kiss when they were considered teenagers by Pre-Golden Age standards, and their engagement, the black sheep of it all was her death. The guilt piled up once more, breaking down the wall that was the façade he used around the other Guardians.

"I took lives, not make them," he breathed, Rose nuzzling her head under his chin as if she knew the pain inside him. "Among them, out of you, Light, Cloud, Leon, and Aqua, I was the most feared and the reason why I became the spearhead to the Absolution Directive." His eyes began to flood, and he felt something run down his eye. Wait, am I…crying?

Spectre never cried. Not since he killed Vesper and their daughter that was growing in her. But after years of mourning without knowing she was pregnant, he was breaking down from the revelation.

"I'm sorry…" he held Rose tighter, the tears in his eyes going out of control and some of them going into her hair. "After all this time of killing the Cyphers' enemies─Fallen, Hive, even the ones against the Absolution Directive─, I killed an innocent life. One that was never born into the world… I'm sorry, Rose… I'm the worst daddy in the world…"

"Daddy, stop crying…" Rose was on the verge of crying too, and she held Spectre closer. "You're not the worst, daddy."

"Rose is right, honey. It wasn't your fault that you killed us."

"But…!"

Vesper shushed him, placing a finger over his lips and taking his chin in her other hand. "Look at me in the eyes. What do you see?"

Spectre turned to face her, who tilted her head to the side and warmly smiling as he looked deep into his fiancée's emerald eyes. The green eyes he loved to see wasn't empty like when he had to execute her. Instead, they were filled with forgiveness. A feeling that he never had the chance of having. A spark of memories the two shared was ever so present in them, both from their happiest memories and of Spectre's greatest accomplishments as a hero of the Tower.

"Do you remember when you first used Sunbreaker?"

"…Yeah. Thought the three of us were done for…"

-Destiny-

The Stills, Moon

"There's just too many of them!" shouted Rez, switching to his Last Word when his Vestian Dynasty ran out of ammo. The trio was on the move, already past the fifth Lantern of Light and en-route to the sixth.

"Just had to waste all that ammo, didn't you?!"

"This is why you're better off fighting the Vex than the Hive!" Spectre, clad in Spearhead Type 0 gear excluding his ACD/0 Feedback Fence, threw a punch at one of the Thrall rushing towards Nero Bianco, tossing a Flashbang Grenade before opening fire with SUROS Regime at the rest of the incoming swarm. The grenade blinded all of the Thrall, all of them shielding their eyes like a bunch of cowards before the bullets from the auto rifle filled them full of holes.

"Spectre, behind us!"

The screech of the Thrall came from behind, Silver and Rez already throwing down their Solar and Arcbolt Grenades at the swarm, picking off the survivors faster than anyone could start singing the first verse of 'Paint it Black'. As for their leader, his auto rifle ran out of ammo. Growling, he put the Exotic auto rifle on his back. He was out of ammo for his shotgun, and using his Gjallarhorn was too dangerous, especially since the Thrall in the Stills were faster than the ones he and his team were used to on Earth and the surface of the Moon. With no other option, he knelt down and punched the ground, a tsunami of Arc energy erupting from the ground and his fist as it raced away from him in all directions and frying the wimps of the Hive army, both normal and Cursed.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" Silver called out, the Lantern of Light they were taking refuge behind turning a blood red. From what Silver established from Toland's notes, these Lanterns of Light explode if in the presence of Guardians for a long period of time.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Silver, but we've got bigger problems!" Rez pointed out. A glowing blob that was an Ogre's head appeared in the darkness of the Stills. Flanking it were Cleaver-wielding Knights and Hallowed Wizards, all of them in shields.

"Oh, son of a─!" the Exo cursed.

"Move!"

Silver and Rez didn't hesitate and began to move as the Ogre started shooting its eye beams at the three-man team. Nero Bianco managed to get out of the way of the Ogre's attack and the Wizards' poison clouds, but the eye beams struck the Lantern of Light. The Lantern exploded from the barrage, throwing the small Fireteam in different directions.

Spectre collided against the rock formation next to the Ogre and away from the rest of his team, back slamming against it. An audible crack rang in his ears, and his helmet's HUD started giving him the warning that he was in critical health.

"Dammit…" he managed to get back on his feet, clutching his side as if a rock had impaled itself through. Rez and Silver were having a small bit of difficulty holding off the Knights and Wizards, especially since Silver was using his MIDA Multi-Tool and Rez was dual wielding his Thorn and Hawkmoon.

In the far reaches of his vision, he saw the Ogre starting to charge its eyebeams, and creeping along behind his Fireteam were Cursed Thrall. Cursed Thrall, Ogre's eyebeam…

Dammit, what can I do!? Spectre punched the rock defeatingly, shattering a bit of it off. I can't use my Fist of Havoc, and it won't kill the Ogre in time… He clenched his fist, the tension physically impossible and small sparks of Arc energy in his fist emitting. I can't use my Super without having Primus charge it!

He continued to watch helplessly as his teammates were starting to struggle with the Knights, even though the wrath of two handcannons aimed at the head with precision shots from the MIDA should be enough. However, he failed to notice his clenched fist, where the sparks had somehow turned to flames. Following the change from sparks to flames was the hefty weight of a hammer, the familiar Hammer of Sol in his hand.

"What the…?" Spectre looked down at his hand with the sudden weight, not only noting the flaming hammer in hand, but also his own body enveloped in Solar energy. His Holborn's Host Mark had another Hammer of Sol clipped on his belt above the torn Mark, this one not burning with Solar energy. He had no time to stare in awe at his new power; Silver and Rez might as well be close to death's door!

"Get some, you Hive trash!"

-Destiny-

"Wow, so that was how daddy became a Sunbreaker?!" Rose saw the memory of her daddy as he recollected, ecstatic at how cool he was. "I wanna be a Titan like daddy!"

"Do you think you can take the responsibility?" Spectre looked down at her, who was nodding very eagerly. "Being a Titan doesn't just mean being able to punch your enemies in the nose and greet the end of your hammer to your enemies' face. It's about being the front lines and the last line of defense."

"You fight and defend at the same time?" Rose raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that too much?"

"You don't have to do both at the same time. There are times that a Titan needs to be one. And I quote Commander Zavala, 'there are two types of Titans. One is that they are walking tanks, and another is the wall against which the Darkness breaks.'"

"Honestly, I think Rose is more suited to be a Huntress. That way, she can retain honor and trickery without having to be stuck being a guard at the Last City's Wall. Besides, Rose doesn't like sitting around and doing nothing."

Spectre quickly faced his fiancée. "Hey! At least I don't have to keep watch at the walls 24/7!"

"Because you were the privileged. The hero. Of course you wouldn't stick around as a Guard of the City's Wall." Vesper saw a badge sewn into his jacket's arms, a familiar two-headed bird holding the Titan's crest, which was the emblem of Titans that defended against the Darkness from any invaders and also on the Titans' version of the Crest of Alpha Lupi with the Roman numeral 'CDLI' at the bird's feet; the numeral for '451'. But on Spectre's jacket, the bird was carrying what appear to be the Raze-Lighter Spectre uses in its talons, and within the Titans' crest was a wolf's face; the wolf seen on the handle of the First Curse. A handcannon that was a gift from her on the day he was announced to be the spearhead to the Absolution Directive just days prior to her execution.

"Honestly, if you were alive, Rose, I don't want anyone to call you a coward."

"Why, daddy?"

"Everyone always complains that the Hunters and Huntresses are cowards hiding behind their sniper rifles. And most of the time, it makes us Titans and Warlocks mad that when we don't realize it, we're already shot in the head by the time we see a red glow in the distance. Becomes a real pain if a team comprising of Titans and Warlocks are pitted against Hunters with sniper rifles."

"So you're saying I'm a coward?" crossing her arms, Vesper continued to stare at her fiancée for the insult to her class. "Is it because I used a sniper rifle that you think I'm a coward?"

"No, not you! I'm saying a majority of the Hunters and Huntresses I know and met in the Crucible are cowards!"

"Humph." Vesper threw her nose up towards the white sky, opening an eye to look at her daughter and winked.

Spectre looked down at himself, loathing saying such an offensive comment. He looked at his right hand, seeing the mark that the Right Hand had carved into the palm of his hand with his own knife. No doubt it will become a scar like his cheek. It was disgusting entirely, a snake of destruction slithering from the center of his palm to the back of his hand, a trail of crimson left behind in its wake. The mark resembled Oryx's emblem, and the trail made could've marked him as another to be Taken. Just like the Right Hand.

"How am I here, Vesper? I should be alive and in the Dreadnaught, rotting and probably on the verge of death."

"You're still on the Dreadnaught, Spectre," Vesper snapped out of her 'pouting' and looked over at her fiancée, remorse clear in her emerald orbs, "Your body is still hanging in your cell, but your mind is here. With me."

"How is that─?"

"Don't you remember anything, Spectre? What caused you to be here?"

"…Not much. All I remember was stopping at five hundred and fifty three and a Hive worm in my ear."

"The Right Hand was still continuing to stab and beat you to submission. To break you. But your pride and fortitude kept you from being broken…until he found out about me and my death." She saw Spectre press a palm to his forehead, trying to recall it all, "He kept on torturing you, this time breaking you with the one thing you never wished happened. He kept taunting you, playing hallucinations of my death over and over. It was effective, and he was close to breaking you completely… Until I intervened. I found out that in order for a Guardian to become Taken, their Light had to be diminished and broken mentally. Your Light was fading away, but your consciousness was on the verge of being lost."

"So you saved my consciousness, and why I'm here."

"Remember, I was different. I had the gifts of the Umbra and Lumen in my blood. Among you and the others like you, I was an outcast compared to you, Lightning, Cloud and Aqua. A freak in my own abilities," she threw herself into his arms, on the verge of crying. But no tears were shed. "Compared to the rest, you and the kazoku accepted me and Leon. You didn't see me as a freak."

Spectre, looking at his fiancée in his arms and then their daughter, held her tightly and kissed her on the forehead. "'See, you can't fly if you never try.' Didn't you tell me that long ago?" he let her sob on his shoulder, gently running his scarred hand against her silky hair. "I wasn't like the others back then. You remember that I was expected to follow in the footsteps of my own father. But I didn't. Because I'm not like my father."

"A choice that you and you alone made."

The gentle breeze kicked up a few notches, the gracefully swaying flowers of the field coming to a dead halt despite the wind being a little stronger. The ambiance of the field changed to a more serious tone than one of reunion and rejoice, as some of the wilted flowers revitalized themselves instantaneously. Spectre, with his fiancée still in his arms, looked up at Rose, whose face was filled with joy. Curious, he looked in the direction she was looking at and he was greeted to a surprise.

"Father…! Mother!"

"Grandma! Grandpa!"

Standing before the Sunbreaker was his parents. Both of them had different shades of blonde hair; a dirty blonde for his father and a pure golden blonde with his mother, and their eyes were the same blue. His father, in heavy armor much unlike a Titan's and a tattered and torn cape replacing the Mark, had a hardened look much like Zavala's and stood with his hands behind his back, looking at his son with pride hidden in his eyes. As for his wife, in robes similar to a Warlock's armor, she was clearly happy to see her son and gave a warm motherly smile.

"What are you doing on your ass? You're my son, and this is how you honor me?" Spectre's father extended a hand for him to hold. Vesper got out of his embrace and Spectre took the offer, getting back up on his feet. Both the Sunbreaker and his father looked at each other in the eye as though they had never met before. However, Spectre acknowledged that this man in heavy armor was indeed his father.

Spectre's mother, after a few seconds, broke up the father-and-son moment and hugged her son tightly. "I'm glad to see you again, Nero. My darling boy."

Nero. That name sent a shiver of nostalgia down his spine. No one called him that since he was born. Instead, he had gone under a different name as soon as he was in his mother's arms after he was born. He remembered the times when his mother would call him 'Nero' instead of his name 'Sparda'. Until her death when he would be considered five years old pre-Golden Age-wise. A wave of emotions coursed over him, and he hugged his mother almost immediately.

"How are you two here? I thought you were─"

"Executed? Died from an incurable sickness? Respectively, I may add?" Spectre's father pined, looking over at his daughter-in-law and granddaughter and nodding. "I suppose you can thank your wife-to-be for saving our souls from disappearing from this world. If it weren't for her gift, you and her would have never been this way, and your mother and I wouldn't be here."

"Trionus, dear. I think that's enough before you go too deep into your infamous 'trance'."

"Thank you, Lotus," Trionus saw the carved mark on his son's hand, then his earlier scar and his expression turned dark at the drop of a hat. "Nero, are you just going to let a Guardian corrupted by the Taken King just beat you to submission? I can understand your scar being a result of your hesitation, but the one in your hand?"

"So? I know I've let you down. Some son I turned out to be."

"If it was any of the ones the Cyphers were expecting, then yes, you would've let them down. But not me." Nero looked up, and Trionus put a hand on his shoulder, "You made your own path, and for once, I'm proud of your choice. You didn't want to follow in my footsteps, and I know why. I was a disgrace to us all."

"I never wanted the position I'm in, father. I wanted to be a normal Guardian, not one that has been exiled because of a simple wrong you caused almost a hundred years ago."

"I know that. Your mother told me of how badly you wanted to be a Guardian. But really, you can't run from your bloodline. It's something that will be on your shoulders, dragging you across the dirt until you accept your birthright. Even if it comes with a price."

"Don't you regret it? Accepting a curse and turning your back on the very gift you were born with and replacing it with that same curse?"

Trionus looked at his son, the wise question burning in both his words and his gaze. Never in Trionus's life has he been asked that question by anyone he knew. Not in a long time, anyway. "…I do, Nero. Like you, I had to live with a regret like how a man with regrets dies. Not only do they burn in their last moments among the living, but their regrets burn them for eternity. And believe me, that regret is still with me. In the afterlife."

"But the Cyphers, they─!"

"The hell with the Cyphers, for all I care!" bellowed Trionus, and Nero remained silent, shutting his mouth. "Honestly, I hated them. Thinking they can take my rule among our people. A clan that you, as my son, should be ruling as of now after my death! They usurped your rightful place, and for what? Fear that you will destroy our hopes of returning home?!"

"Trionus, that's enough!" Lotus quelled her husband's impending anger, an angry black Solar flare enveloping his gauntlet until he released the tension. "I know how much you hate them for executing you. Nero hates them for forcing him to execute our daughter and granddaughter. Please, be calm…"

Nero looked up at the featureless white sky, and then back at his arm with the badge of the Crest of Alpha Lupi. "Do I really have what it takes to break free? Free from the bond that chained me down from the moment Lightning and I was born?"

"Nero, as much as we know that once we step into our path, there is no coming back. We must press on, no matter what. You have more than enough to forge your own path. Continue on that path, and you won't be stopped. Make the most of it, but never shy away from your heritage. Protect everyone that matters, and if you have to, let go of something to save another. I know it will be hard for someone like you, to let go of something to preserve another. But should it ever rise, just don't regret it all."

"And speaking of life," Vesper interrupted, the white sky warping away and revealing the cell Spectre was in the real world. The door leading to the cell was opened, and in came in the Right Hand. He was slowly striding towards Spectre, as another came into view. It showed Lightning and the kazoku, along with Rez, Silver and Reaper being surrounded by the Taken. "I can't keep you here much longer. He'll find a way to get in. Even worse, the Taken's advancing on everyone else: Lightning, Cloud, Leon, Aqua, even your Fireteam and your friends. It's only a matter of time until they're vanquished, robbed of their Light."

"Daddy…" Rose clung to his leg, horrified at the events unfolding above them. "I'm scared…"

As for the Sunbreaker, his fist clenched, his freshly scarred hand bleeding as his nails dug into his wounds. "I won't let it happen…"

Trionus walked next to his son, hands behind his back and looking up at the scenes unfolding. "Even if it comes with a terrible price? One that could cost your reputation?"

"I don't care. If Oryx or his forces tries to take my friends and family away from me, I will show no mercy to them all."

As sudden as the wilted flowers revitalized themselves, the flowers yet to bloom rapidly bloomed as well, their original colors changing to black as a result. Not only did those flowers bloom and change color, but Spectre's eyes changed back to the sinister gold color he loathed seeing again.

"Nero, honey, are you sure you have the strength to carry out such a mission?"

"Yes."

"Are you saying that you finally accept your bloodline, my son? One that you have been pushing back for so long?" his father pined.

"…No, I'm not saying that I accept my heritage, father."

Trionus didn't even flinch when Spectre quickly whipped around and aimed his customized handcannon at him. Lotus wanted to get Nero to put the gun down, but her husband gestured her to stand down. Vesper took Rose in her embrace and turned her away from the scene in case Spectre would put a bullet in his father's skull. The barrel was in his face, and his finger was on the trigger ready to fire. His stolid face only stared in the gun barrel, then back at his son in the eyes. The wind whipped up around the Sunbreaker, his jacket and eye-covering bangs whistling in the wind wildly.

"I'm saying that I can surpass you. In fact, Lightning and I already surpassed you. I will never become you, but I will walk my own path. Away from the one you took. I don't want to repeat what you did long ago."

"Even if it means losing everything you've gotten so far?"

"I'm not going to lose everything," Nero pushed Skyfall closer to his father's face. He never knew his father, but for some reason, it felt right to point a gun at him. Was he…turning into something he feared? Is his bloodline finally getting to him? "I'll make Oryx lose everything. I'll make sure of it. Even if I have to sacrifice myself."

Trionus, at the small speech his son delivered to him, only faintly smiled. "That will do… Spectre." He gestured him to pull the trigger, but it was only now that he saw Spectre's handcannon-holding hand start to quiver. He knew that Spectre would never shoot his own family, Trionus included. "Why are you hesitating?"

"Vesper, I need to know… If I shoot my father here and now, will I never see him again?"

Vesper turned as soon as her fiancée asked that question, still covering Rose's eyes if he was planning to shoot his father. "No. Spectre, the Trionus before you is his regrets that he carried with him when he died manifested in his image. You won't kill your father, but you can put his soul to rest by killing his regrets. Just like me, your father will always be with you. Lotus, Trionus, Rose and I will always be with you."

Nero lowered Skyfall to his side, looking at the weapon. He opened the cylinder. Only one bullet was left. "Father, if you can hear me now, here's to you being freed from your regrets." He slammed the cylinder back in and pointed the barrel at his father's manifested regrets. "Even though I was born after you were executed by the Cyphers, I know you're not the kind of man to die with regrets. So, forgive me. Because these are your Last Words, not mine."

Nero's mother approved of her son's farewell to his father's regrets, a tear falling as her son will finally free his father from his torment in the afterlife. Spectre turned to face his fiancée, who nodded and smiled all the same as his mother. Soon enough, he redirected his attention to his father's regrets, hand no longer quivering but tight enough to handle the insane recoil one-handed. Inhale, count to four… Exhale, count to four…

"Daddy!" Rose broke free from her mother's hold and ran up to her father, forcing him to remove his finger from the trigger and face his daughter. "Are you going to say good-bye to us?"

Spectre knelt down to level with Rose's eyesight, ruffling her hair. "Yeah. I don't belong in this world. I belong with the living. My time's not up yet."

Rose reached for something behind her neck, lifting a small chain up and over her head. Quickly, she presented the chained item in her small hands. A necklace, with a beautiful sapphire colored tear-shaped crystal similar to the rose-shaped crystal he has. "Here, daddy! I want you to have this, so you won't forget me and mommy!"

"Rose… Thank you." Nero took the pendant from her hands, putting down Skyfall and hugging her. "I won't forget you and mommy. You two are what matters to me." He kissed Rose tenderly on her forehead before Vesper took her back. Quickly, he picked up Skyfall and returned to where he was, aiming it back at Trionus's face once again.

Bang!

One shot was all it took.

Nero's father recoiled back from the shot to the head, falling into the flowers back-first just as his body succumbed to the shot it took. A pool of blood flowed like a broken dam from his wound to the flowers, staining them red. After accepting that he shot his own father, Spectre lowered Skyfall to his side once more, cocking the hammer and putting it in his holster. The blood from Trionus's corpse soon spread all across the field, coloring all of the flowers red.

"Tha…nk you…" Trionus managed to give a farewell to his son before fading away like a ghost. "You made me proud. Don't forget it."

Following his father's passing was his mother, who only smiled as she started to fade away to let Spectre go back to the world of the living. "Thank the Traveler that you and your sister was a blessing to your father and I. You give them hell, Nero. I love you, honey, and don't let your enemies stop you."

"Bye, daddy! I'll see you again!" Rose waved as she too started to fade to nothing, melting Spectre's cold heart at the innocence his daughter has.

"Go out there and make us proud. Remember: we're always with you, no matter where you are." Vesper's cloak fluttered about as she faded away, turning around and walking away to join her parents-in-law and daughter.

The white light from the sky had become blocked by the red from the blood-colored field like the sky had turned red, the only one left letting the turn of events in the field occur. An aura from the roots of the flowers started creeping its way towards Nero, hungry in its motion. It consumed him whole, but it didn't bring him back to reality instantly. The Sunbreaker stood stagnant, the black smoke-like mist consuming him and blotting out the red in his jacket and shirt.

His hair changed color, a dirty blonde faded to a darker shade of his current color instantly. He opened his eyes, and no longer was there a steel blue-gray. Instead, the golden eyes he had possessed earlier and in his hallucinations had taken over. For good.

"I am…the son of the Disgraced One, Trionus."


Damned Guardians! How dare they humiliate me!? The Right Hand painfully walked towards the unconscious body of Spectre, clutching his side as it bled large amounts of goo. First he was overpowered by that damned Fireteam using only swords and sorcery just as he was about to eliminate Dmitri and his team, then the most pathetic Fireteam in the Tower eliminated an Echo?! His power began to slip from his fingers, and he needed more for his loss. More Light to Take. That Fallen Warlock provided so much Light, but it was completely unsatisfactory to his hunger. Nor did his absorption of a shard of the Echo as it died.

Light… I need Light! He dared to not go back out there. Even if he managed to retreat, that's not stopping four extremely skilled and powerful Guardians from pursuing him. Hell, they're right outside the door leading to the Hanging Crypts! Thankfully, he was able to prevent them from getting close to their precious Sunbreaker's cell and use the Taken as a barrier and roadblock.

"Bad news, Spectre. It's been fun, but I'm afraid your time is up." He stood before the hanging Sunbreaker, just waking up and breathing. "Your beloved sister and friends are closing in, and I'm going to enjoy making them suffer. I many not have been able to take Dmitri and his friends' Light away, but at least I can Take your friends'." The Right Hand withdrew his hand from his bleeding side, watching as Spectre weakly moved his head. "You've been a nuisance to my Liege, and now it's time to say goodbye." He stretched his hand toward's Spectre's chest, the Taken membrane growing and growling in his palm. Under his corrupted Helm of Inmost Light, he grinned sadistically. With just a simple act, he could end the life of his King's most hated enemy, he could strike fear into the Guardians' hearts; he could─

"I will not allow it!"

His hand stopped mere inches from touching the Sunbreaker, the membrane 'screaming' in agony. His outstretched hand burned like he put his hand in a pool of lava, and he pulled it back the parasite dripping from his fingers like goo. Growling, he looked up at his captive.

Instead of a Titan, he was face to face with his captive's only weakness that took the form of a Huntress, unbeaten and unbruised. She raised her head and looked at the Right Hand straight in the eyes, a fire that was protection and love burning in them.

"You foolish Right Hand. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into now!"

Amused by this, the Right Hand began to cackle uncontrollably. So, she appears to me for the first time. Why now of all times…? No matter. "So, it appears you still have some strength left in you, huh?" he pulled out a corrupted version of Spectre's Raze Lighter, summoning more of the Taken membrane and fusing it to the blade. "Good. It'll be a pleasure to break you as you die with a last regret!" He thrust the sword forward.

However, a sickening crrraaacck rang in the cell, and all his sword stabbed was thin air.

What?! A tightness wrapped around his neck, and immediately he dropped the sword. His hands clawed at whatever was around his neck, and his gauntleted fingers felt a hard Hive material.

"Why don't you break this?"

~Oh can you tell me,

Can you tell me,

The way that this should work~

The Hive material finally snapped, and a shadow somersaulted over the Right Hand. It landed in front of him, facing away from the Taken King's general. Somehow, the metal-like material didn't kill the Right Hand immediately, since he was still breathing. His teeth grinded against each other, and his breathing became heavy.

"How did you─?! You're supposed to be dying!" Somehow, the Sunbreaker had broken free from the chains, moving like he was never injured at all! Something wasn't right… And the most disgusting bit of it all? The broken bones that were sticking out of his flesh were all pushed out of his body in the most painful way possible. Yet, he didn't flinch or fall at all, his exposed flesh healing at a rapid rate.

"…How disgusting," Nero wiped his mouth with his arm, spitting out something. His tone wasn't like his normal tone, but rather of a Guardian close to either losing their voice or slipping to insanity.

~Just who's inside of me?

The monster pulling strings,

I'm broken, lying, helpless, dying,

Surrounded by the world~

The Right Hand, outraged at what Spectre said, only felt something wet run down the side of his head. He pressed his fingers against it and brought it to his sight. His eyes widened at what was on it. A black substance, the Taken's equivalent of blood. For the first time since he was resurrected by Oryx, he was starting to feel fear. After all this time, he thought he could strike fear in the hearts of many, but now, he was starting to feel quite the opposite.

"What did you do?! You bit me!" The question of how Spectre could be able to tear off a chunk of his helmet and bite through resonated in his head. It was impossible for someone to do all of that within a few seconds!

"Yeah, and your Darkness is disgusting. It tastes just like rotten meat."

Nero dodged a tendril of Taken energy that formulated around Samson's arm, leaping up and twisting around to make sure it never hits him. From the air, he fell towards the Taken King's general, ready to kick him square in the face.

~And yet, you're smiling bright,

When you don't see a thing~

Unfortunately, Samson had blocked the attack and caught Nero's leg, grasping it with both hands. "I got you now!" he proceeded to twist it, feeling satisfied by the sound of flesh being popped and twisted. Blood exploded everywhere, landing on both the Right Hand's armor and Spectre's.

"As if." In spite of the pain of having his leg twisted, he went along with it and spun, striking the general in the face with his free leg. The resulting kick sent the general flying towards one of the walls in Spectre's cell, a crater left behind on impact and a heavy dust cloud obscured the area where Samson was.

The Sunbreaker landed on his good leg, using his twisted leg's heel to counterbalance the loss. In an instant, his leg began to twist again, spinning around until his leg was back to normal. For Nero, it was nothing. The years of being under the Cyphers' impossible training made him resist the pain as such. For the average Guardian, the pain of having your leg twisted around like a wet rag would be unworldly. But to Nero? It was only like an itch.

"After all the pain you caused, everything you've done… You think that can hurt me?"

~My raptured lungs, and I'm breaking down,

Unraveled, I can't breathe,

The truth I seek never felt so bleak,

I feel it drop degrees,

Freeze~

The Right Hand emerged from the crater and the smoke screen-like cloud of dust, clearly pissed off. The tendril started going wild as it was latched on to his arm like a leech, and Spectre sensed it. As for the Taken King's general, he removed his broken helmet, revealing a face that looked just like Vesper's on the day she was corrupted, just with the Taken membrane this time. "Kill you…! I'll kill you! I swear it!" the tendril enveloped his entire back, the black and blue color of the Taken adding more to his menacing appearance by forming leg-like tendrils along his back and his arm swallowed by the tendril, becoming more or less of a whip-like extension. "Your Light is mine! I'll tear you to shreds!"

However, Nero only smirked evilly at the empty threat the Right Hand made. As if to further provoke him, he bent his left hand's ring finger with his thumb on top of the middle joint before pressing down on it. A satisfying cracking noise rang out, and he watched the rage build up in the Right Hand. Does he really think I'm intimidated that easily? Tch, pathetic words for a pathetic man.

"I'll break all of your bones!"

I'd like to see you try.

~Breakable, unbreakable

Shakable, unshakable

Was shaking up until I found you~

The Right Hand blindly charged towards Nero, corrupted Raze Lighter back in his possession. Just as he was mere inches away from colliding with the Titan, he swung both his whip-like arm and sword. Spectre moved out of the way like it was a lazily thrown dish, and when Samson kept on swinging his weapons, the Sunbreaker effortlessly danced around the attacks without getting grazed by either one, increasing the rage and frustration further with each blow he evades.

Why do I feel so…alive? Am I really enjoying torturing and taunting my enemy because he can't land a damned blow on me?! Inside, it felt like a war was raging on inside him. One side was of his dignity and honor as a Titan, and the other was of his bloodline, cruel to the enemy yet satisfying once it was all over. The two sides were in deadlock, canceling out the other's influences and pulling Spectre apart. But it seems to him, his bloodline was already winning.

Eventually, Nero had enough of dodging Samson's attacks and stood in place, provoking the corrupted Guardian to hit him just by standing there. And he fell for it. Samson struck with his whip arm first, then swinging his sword diagonally. Ducking the whip and leaning to the side in succession, Nero took a step forward and struck him in the lower of his ribcage, just above the liver. His fist was no longer infused with Solar energy, but a more powerful force had taken over its place.

The Right Hand started to growl tauntingly at the apparently 'weak' punch Spectre threw at him, laughing since he let his guard down. His tendril arm grabbed Spectre from behind, enveloping him in its grasp before flinging him across the cell like the Sunbreaker was a ball of paper. Karma came back to the Sunbreaker as he was thrown into the wall, what he did to Samson done to him.

~I'm standing here watching the world as it falls around me,

You're so close, but I hope that you stop searching,

I don't want you to see what I've become,

A fading no one,

I don't want to hurt you, it's not my nature,

A monster born from dusk to dawn can't be your savior,

I'm falling victim, remember the 'me', the way I used to be~

The Right Hand breathed heavily after throwing his prisoner against the wall, satisfied yet uncontent. Taking his sword, he reversed his grip on it and threw it in the direction of the Titan. A surge of pain coursed through his chest, tearing up his insides like someone had plunged a knife in it and stabbed repeatedly. That power…! Just what is it?! He grasped the region where Spectre had delivered the punch and looked at his palm. A substance was there, not his blood nor the Taken membrane. It was black as oil, but the texture had the appearance of smoke.

His attention was pulled from his inspection of the substance towards the wall where Spectre was pinned to. Emerging from the dust was said Titan, the sword impaled in his chest yet standing as if it didn't impale him in the first place. Their eyes met, and it was now that Samson saw that his victim's eyes were completely different. Inside them was a raging anger, carving its way into the remains of the Taken Guardian's soul.

"Not too bad…" Nero reached for the hilt of the sword, then violently yanking it out. He was lucky enough that the sword didn't go through his heart, otherwise it would've been all in vain. Although he'll give the Right Hand credit for trying to actually kill him. With the sword out of his chest, he snapped it in two and tossed the halves away. "But I can do better."

He took in the Right Hand's expression and cracked his fingers again, this time with his middle finger. Behind him the shadows started to move, making their way towards him just the same in the field he had seen Vesper again. Never have I wanted to accept this power… I saw what it did to my people, especially the ones who gave in to it. Lightning accepted hers, so is it time that I do my part? He remembered it all: seeing his peers and family all accept their bloodline. Everyone but him. He saw no point in accepting or even using his, so he pushed it away for fifty years now. The mist-like shadows clustered around his back, and what unfolds shocked the Right Hand.

Samson watched as the dark mist suddenly materialize into four shapes, rooting themselves in the Titan's back. All four were black as his armor and the night sky, and they were all shaped like tendrils. At the end of those tendrils were blade-like appendages, razor-sharp from the looks of it. Some of the mist soon enveloped Nero's recently scarred hand, turning it into a clawed form of itself and enveloping his arm up to the elbow, a spike forming on his elbow. Soon enough, it took a draconic appearance, the shadow being an encasing of his real arm. The remaining shadows hovered right behind Nero's back, forming a visible spirit looming over his shoulders in the form of a dragon. It roared, the soundwaves visible as ripples in the air.

~The endless pain of solitude,

Wraps tight around my fortitude,

The happy days pierce into me,

These lonely memories cease to care,

Innocently they pierce through~

The Right Hand roared back at the golden eyed Guardian, and already did Spectre make the first attack. He leapt up above the Right Hand with the help of his tendrils, lunging straight towards him with his draconic hand outreached. The Right Hand blocked the clawed hand with his tendril-wrapped arm, then blocking the barrage of attacks from the upper half of Spectre's tendrils and the rest suspending him mid-air. Roaring angrily, the Right Hand threw a barrage of his own at the suspended Sunbreaker, to which said Titan effortlessly evaded like he did on his feet. Soon enough, the Taken tendrils had somehow cut through the materialized shadows, bringing the Tower's champion down to the ground. But not before the half that was attacking Samson slammed him to the ground.

~I can't move,

I can't move,

I can't move,

I can't move,

I can't move

I can't move!

Unraveling the world~

Nero landed on his feet, his lower tendrils going wild before 'screaming' and started to cause smoke-like shadows to emerge from the cut wounds. Two more of the same tendrils grew in the original's place, sharper and more deadlier and adding up to a total of six of the materialized shadows. Inside, he knew his honor and dignity died out as soon as he became more exposed to his bloodline, leaving the cruelty dominant. It trampled on its 'weak' opponent upon its victory, crushing its chances of living to fight another day and killing it off. Spectre knew he never wanted that part of him to be dominant. It was why he pushed it away, both his heritage and abilities. Not only did everyone he knew before he came to the Tower accept their abilities and separate heritages, but he saw what became of the generation before his own. The last generation, his father included, fell to the void of their abilities' temptation turning even the most honored and dignified into monsters. Monsters that have lost all sight of the right and thirsted for more power.

No, once someone submits to that power, they will never come back. All they become are shells of their former selves; gone are their senses of the right thing.

However, Samson quickly got back up and lunged towards the leader of the Ancient Vanguard more enraged than before. He swung wildly with his tendril-wrapped arm and his tendrils behind him started focusing on the six shadow tendrils. Spectre snapped out of his thoughts and ducked and dodged the swung tendrils aimed at him, but the same couldn't be said for his own tendrils. All of them were cut off in a rapid succession, but more 'grew' back from six to ten to fourteen. No matter how many tendrils were cut off, all of them grew more deadlier blades. Within thirty seconds, the number of materialized shadow tendrils multiplied to a grand total of thirty, all of the bladed ends more jagged and hooked for maximum damage. Even Spectre's draconic-like arm started to turn sharper with each tendril cut off, his clawed fingers starting to have jagged edges and hooks at the end.

Eventually, Spectre had enough of dodging his opponent's blows and ducked the instant the giant Taken membrane-turned-tendrils covered arm swung at him. Enclosing his draconic hand, the son of the Disgraced One channeled his bloodline's power into his hand, a black aura much like the black Solar flare in his father's clenched hand and when he took out the Echo back in the Cosmodrome enclosing it and released the tension before clawing his way up.

The Right Hand screamed agonizingly as half of his arm─both his actual arm and the Taken tendril─was torn by Spectre's draconic claw-hand, recoiling in pain as the black blood oozed out in a flood, followed by the tendril spilling itself in a goo-like form. Taking the moment as an opening, Spectre leapt up. All thirty of his tendrils formed as one, their appearance making a wings-like shadow before they all slammed the Right Hand into the ground, leaving a crater with him.

~There's something deep inside of me,

Yet everything's changing,

A change was made, I can't break free,

The Darkness and the Light collide,

They fade away before they've begun,

Breakable, unbreakable,

Shakable, unshakable,

These dirty hands know they won't touch you~

"Who's the pathetic one now?" taunted Trionus's son once the dust settled, his upper left tendrils acting in unison as he commanded them to attack.

Samson let out a cry of pain as the tendrils impaled his good arm, the blades digging into both his armor and flesh corrupted by the Taken. The pain was far beyond what he went through back when he was still a Guardian of the Light, and it was just the same as the Echo's fate: the combination of being disintegrated, burned and shocked alive.

Painfully, he looked back at the Sunbreaker, who had already went to cracking his index finger. He knew Spectre, back when he was under the Vanguard and before his transition to being a hero, was seen as the hotshot that was too powerful for his own good because of his guts and dumb luck. And he knew Spectre's signature habit of cracking his ring to his index fingers. The action alone just screamed out 'time to die'. And that was exactly what the Sunbreaker was saying in his head every time he did his habit.

How can this be?! The power I possess, the power to kill all the Traveler's pawns…only to be beaten by a power that doesn't belong to the Light?! How can a Guardian of the Traveler possess such terrible power!? His mind screamed, even though he was crying out in pain as of now. "You…can't…be…"

~I'm standing here watching the world as it falls around me,

You're so close, but I hope that you stop searching,

I don't want you to see what I've become,

A fading no one,

I'm trapped in this cage the world created,

Held into place by someone crazy shall melt away like dawn to day as thing get hazy

I'm falling faster, remember who I was~

"One thousand minus seven." Nero uttered, reminding the Right Hand of what he said the moment he started torturing the Sunbreaker. The Taken General glanced back at the Guardian, teeth gritted upon hearing his favored method of torture. His eyes widened in fear, not wanting to acknowledge his defeat despite his face showing it.

"Go…to…hell…!"

"Wrong answer," Spectre sent his lower left half out to attack in unison once more, this time digging into his victim's calf. Grinning evilly upon hearing Samson cry in agony once again, he let the tendrils proceed to torture the Taken General with his own blades. "I'm waiting for an answer, you traitorous piece of shit. What's one thousand minus seven?"

Samson stalled at his response and Spectre impaled another set of jagged and hooked tendrils into his other calf, the other impaled set removed and plunging itself back in the exact same spot. He cried in unworldly agony at the bladed tendrils entering his flesh at the same time. The feeling of having jagged and hooked blades digging in your flesh was the worst imaginable coming from the method of torturing a victim with blades, and Samson was a clear victim to it all.

"I can keep this up all day." Another stalled response, and Spectre sent the remaining set into his dismembered arm, which still had traces of the Taken tendrils enveloping his arm. A heavy stomp to his spine followed immediately after the impalement, and Samson screamed like a pig ready for the slaughter when the tendrils on his back were violently ripped off in a gruesome fashion. He looked back and saw the ghost of a dragon looming behind the Sunbreaker proceed to devour the ripped off tendrils hungrily and ravenously, almost as if it never ate for many thousands of years.

~Remember who I once was,

Please don't forget me,

You can't forget me,

You won't forget me,

Please don't forget me~

"Nine hundred…ninety-three… Nine hundred…eighty-six…" the Right Hand submitted to his situation, giving in to his situation. The ghostly dragon had finished his meal and stared down at the defeated Taken Guardian, then at its master with its own set of golden eyes. "Nine hundred…nine hundred…seventy-nine…!"

Nero looked down at his draconic-like arm, flexing his fingers about until he clenched it into a fist. So what do you think, Dragunus? Let this filth live, or kill him here and now? He just didn't know who he was anymore. The same Spectre that had been driven with grief and still became a hero to the Last City, or what his father became. Yet somehow, he knew this spirit of a dragon. Like they were brothers. His golden eyes never faltered in glowing evilly. And its message? No more does the Light reside in the son of the Disgraced One, for now he accepted power far more powerful than Light with its cost.

Kill. Dragunus affirmed in Spectre's thoughts, setting the verdict and sentence for their victim.

Very well, then. Death it is.

~There's no turning back now, I know I'm paralyzed,

I'm trapped inside this paradise, and with this parasite,

I'm falling victim,

Remember who I was, the way I used to be~

"Nine hundred…seventy…two! Nine hundred…sixty-five," Samson continued to count down while both the blades and pain that the Echo suffered went on and on. A tear shed from his eyes, the pain completely unbearable.

His torture victim-turned-torturer watched on at the pathetic weakling known as the Right Hand, enjoying every second of the agony and suffering. His expression turned from a cruel, sadistic torturer to an expressionless one much like a statue's own. He didn't choose to accept his power, but if he had to live to fight another day, it was the only option left. His Light was mostly gone, but he managed to survive with the power of his father.

"Remember, you were the one who tried to break me first," he reminded, cracking his index finger again, this time bending the rest of the finger into his palm. He then tapped the right side of his head, tilting it towards the side as he cracked his finger for the last time.

"W…what are…you?!" Samson demanded, stopping his counting and looking over his shoulders. He screamed as the tendrils impaled him again, proving his suspicions through the sudden cruelty inside the Vanguard's greatest Titan.

"It's not what you should be concerned about. It's who."

"That power… It can't be!"

"Took you this long to figure it out? I'm offended," Nero taunted, the dragon over his shoulders watching Samson writhe and squirm under the pain caused by the bladed tendrils and snarling down at him.

"But he's…! He's dead!"

"What a no-brainer, smartass. Because honestly, just because the Disgraced One died almost seventy-three years ago doesn't mean it was impossible for my birth."

~Oh, won't you tell,

Oh please, tell me,

Just who's inside of me?~

At long last, the Hive worm that the Taken General had put in Nero's ear fell out, falling straight into his waiting draconic hand. The Hive work was covered in his blood, moving faintly as though it was on the brink of dying. His ear felt like the Hive worm never entered it at all, and he knew that it was thanks to his powers. And if it could scream, it would've right now as the son of the Disgraced One crushed it in his clawed hand. Hive blood exploded in his hand, away from Nero's face and dripping down his hand onto the Taken General's face.

He already grew bored of looking at the terror in the Taken General's corrupted face, and it was time to deliver the verdict and sentence.

Samson watched as the golden glow in both Spectre and his ghost-like dragon's eyes grow sinisterly brighter, and the shadows from the rest of the cell move like waterfalls towards the Sunbreaker. Is this… How I'll die again?! By a hotshot of the Tower that weaseled his way to glory? You gotta be kidding me…!

"So you'll get what's coming to you…"

~The monster pulling strings~

"When I break you instead."

And so ended the life of the general of the Taken forces.


Wow. Just... Wow. Never have I written over at least 5k (excluding chapters 6(?)-7(?) my original Skyfall 007: Mission Start. That was a pathetic excuse of a fanfic in my book) in recent times, but cramming all of this in one chapter was my main motivation. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'You can't be serious! You're going to end it here!? Even when we haven't reached the Enemy of my Enemy mission in The Taken King?!' Who said I was gonna end it here? Besides, you may have to thank The Crimson Commando for covering that mission (indirectly, but whatever). Also, as a homage to most anime shows I've seen, they never go past 12 episodes for one season. It sucks, but whatever.

And trust me, this was just 'season one' (or the first arc of the story if you want it put that way) of my Destiny: Skyfall fic. I already have season two planned out to finish up the rest of The Taken King, but this is where I have to put it to an end as of now. Because I'm uncertain whether to continue season two/second arc in the same story or make an individual one. By the time I posted this chapter, I already made the poll for you, the reader, to decide where you want me to start for season two. Not only have I made the poll, but I also have a YouTube playlist ready for your listening leisure. Just look at my profile! I think you'll find it quite satisfying, my choice of music for the characters' themes (including 'Writing's on the Wall' as the 'title song' for this fic).

As for my poll, it'll be open until the end of April. So don't worry about the time limit its open! Go ahead and vote! Also, thank you all so much for… *Jaw drops upon seeing the number of views* 2,368 views?! Wow, not even five months and this accumulated this many reads?! Looking at my archives, this puts Destiny: Skyfall in second place (behind Skyfall 007: Mission Start by 139 views) in views, but clearly tramples over the latter in the number of favorites and follows within five months! Thank you guys so much for all of this!

Unfortunately, this is where we will go our separate ways…for now.

But don't worry.

Spectre, Nero Bianco, Reaper, and the rest of the kazoku will be back to fight another day in the next season. For now, it's their time off.

Thanks for reading, and we'll all see you in season two!