Coming back from the hangar, Matt noticed that the courtyard was chalk-full of Guardians. He'd never seen so many of them crammed into one place before, bustling around and nervously chatting amongst themselves, all of them equally curious as to what was going on.

Ash and Aria followed closely behind him, as did the Seekers. They all wore the clothing they'd worn at the race, which meant Scorch was walking around while still dressed in her racing garb. She looked quite out of place, compared to how everyone else looked; some Guardians were in attire similar to their own, but others were dressed in full combat gear, leading Matt to question exactly where had many Guardians been called from? Even from missions out on Venus, or Mars? This had to be pretty serious if that were the case.

From the left came the Speaker, walking up the stairs to the small balcony that stood behind Xander, the bounty-master. Silence began to fall around the courtyard as the Speaker began to explain the gathering.

"Guardians, today we have learned of a grave threat to us all. I am almost hesitant to speak it aloud, for fear that it is true; but alas, this threat is all too real." He gave a small sigh, and then dropped his bombshell; "Crota is returning."

A collective gasp came from most of the Guardians in the Courtyard. Matt simply felt confused. He had no idea who this 'Crota' was, but evidently they weren't something to be trifled with. He looked at his companions to see Aria's mouth gaping in recognition, as well as Scorch and Eager who looked dumbfounded. Ash and Dawn, on the other hand, appeared to share his ignorance. He said nothing, sure that they would learn soon enough who Crota was.

One Guardian called out, "How do you know?" The Speaker looked to the right of the balcony where another Guardian was ascending the staircase on the opposite side. She seemed quite different from other Guardians, however. Her attire was completely made up of a depressingly black cloth with a kind of vest over her torso. Her skin appeared to be completely devoid of pigment and color, giving her the appearance of a gaunt corpse.

"I am Eris Morn. I journeyed into the realm of Crota years ago with a team of strong Guardians, unmatched by any others." In spite of her appearance, she spoke with a strong and clear voice; she could be heard all around the courtyard as though she were right next to you. "We were brave, but foolish. One by one, we were struck down until only I was left. For years, I huddled in the squalor, drawing strength from… unmentionable sources in order to survive." Almost instinctually, she reached her hand up to her forehead, where a bandana covered her eyes.

"I learned of his plan to return to our realm, and I made haste to help end it. I crawled out of the depths with nothing but revenge on my mind, and you all are going to help me." She glared at the rest of the Guardians with a look of fury so strong, Matt felt like holes were being bored into his skull.

Cayde, who was standing near Xander below the Speaker and Eris, coughed loudly. "Well Eris, that uh, that was certainly quite the… dramatic speech." He looked around at the crowd of Guardians before him. "But she is right. If Crota is returning, it could mean all-out war against the Hive. He commands many of their forces, being a Prince-God of theirs. And the last time he was here in our realm… well, there were a lot of good people that ended up not-alive." He paused to let that sink in, and then resumed his briefing.

"As was shown earlier this evening, his forces are already starting to move in. His apprentice, Omnigul, reared her ugly head here on Earth just a few hours ago. Whatever she's doing out in the cosmodrome, it's not good. We need every single Guardian on high alert for this, no games. Whatever you hear, see, or feel out there, I don't care if you just get the goosebumps while walking in the cold, check it out. We need to know her whereabouts, and we need them fast." He gave one last look around the crowd before waving his hand and saying, "Dismissed."

Guardians began to disperse from the square, each hurriedly running off with an apparent aura around them; their motivation was blatantly obvious. Matt was about to follow suit when he heard Cayde speak up; "Matt! Scorch!" They both looked over to where the Hunter Vanguard was beckoning them to come. With looks of confusion, they obeyed, and soon both stood in front of the eccentric Exo.

He stood with his hands on his belt, too lazy to put them in his pockets. "I want both your teams to meet with the Vanguards in about ten minutes. That alright with you?" They nodded, although still unsure of what Cayde was getting at. The Hunter nodded in acceptance, and began to walk away. It surprised Matt that Cayde wasn't sporting his usual quips to each and every word coming out of a person's mouth. Maybe this issue was a bigger one than he'd even escalated it to be in his mind.

-X-

The Heroes and Seekers stood at opposite sides of the table, waiting on the Vanguards to tell them why they'd been called. With a tired sigh, Zavala lifted his head.

"I'm sure that you're all wondering why you're here."

Scorch raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were here because you summoned us?"

The Titan shook his head. "No, not us. She summoned you. Or more accurately, asked for the best Guardians we had on hand." Waving his hand in the direction behind the long table, both teams turned to see Eris slinking from the shadows.

"I remember you," stated Aria, "from when I studied to be a Guardian. You and the rest of your team weren't taken seriously, but you ended up chasing the trail of one of the most legendary enemies we've faced before."

Eris, usually so empty of emotion, felt a small smirk tug at the ends of her mouth. "So, we weren't completely forgotten after all these years."

She reverted back to her melancholy expression, and walked to the far end of the table, splitting even between the two teams of Guardians. "As I said, I'm here for revenge. But even my desire for vengeance doesn't blind me to the dangers presenting themselves to the city; and so you're all going to help me stop them."

Matt nodded immediately. This was his job, to be ready at a moment's notice to defend the Traveler. "Where do we start?"

Cayde held up his hands. "Slow down there, trigger-happy. You haven't even heard what she has to say yet." Eris shot him a look, but did not say anything about his interruption.

She instead continued, "As Cayde has implied, the tasks ahead are dangerous, filled with peril. All of you will be necessary for this to succeed."

This time, everyone waited patiently for her to explain. She held a small green orb with a single shard of… something, swirling inside. She used her hands to rotate it while she spoke in a monotonous tone; "Crota has grown stronger over the years, strong enough to attempt an escape from his realm of isolation; though he still requires several events before he can manifest here."

She paced around the room as she gave exposition, "Firstly, his true form may be banished, but a shard of his soul resides in this reality, encased in a Hive crystal. It is in this crystal that his tie to this realm is anchored; it must be destroyed. Omnigul will attempt to bring him through to our world, but without the crystal… I won't say it'd be impossible, but it would make things much harder for her."

Now, she held up the orb she had in her hands. "Secondly, Omnigul will need this. She will attempt to seek it out here on Earth, for she cannot succeed without it."

Eager raised a metallic eyebrow questioningly. "Well, what the hell is it?"

She shot him another one of her menacing looks at his question. "Never you mind what it is, all you need to know is that Omnigul must not be permitted to get her hands on it! Understood?" Holding his hands up to sign surrender, Eager looked quite taken aback.

Eris gave a curt nod. "Good. Now this leads us to the last topic of interest; mission assignments. One team must pursue Omnigul, and the other must venture to the moon…" Eris shook slightly, her memories of what had occurred there obviously bothering her, "… and destroy the crystal."

Ash gave an involuntary shudder at the mention of the moon. She, Aria, and Matt had taken very few trips there; after the first one with several near-death experiences, she'd felt that she'd experienced all that the moon had to offer, and she wasn't interested. Falling into the Hellmouth still stood near the top of Ash's worst fears, and she wasn't eager to make another visit.

"Eris, we'd be more than glad to kill Omnigul for you." Ash breathed a sigh of relief, as the voice belonged to Matt. Looking after his team as always. Or maybe he just felt it was the more dangerous mission, and was trying to spare the Seekers any danger-

"With respect, Matt… I think that we should take that one." The Heroes stared at Scorch incredulously as she voiced her opinion. She shrank a little bit at their reaction, but her eyes held that fierce look of determination that she was known for.

"What makes you say that?" asked Matt, his brow furrowed.

Scorch crossed her arms. "I just think that we're up to the challenge. I know you're volunteering for the mission to keep us out of danger, you've done it several times over the last year." So Scorch had caught on to that. Ash looked to Matt, watching the thoughts behind his eyes as he tried to find the words to say what he wanted to.

"It's not a matter of danger, it's simply a matter of experience here. We've been Guardians a while longer than you, and we've dealt with troublesome Wizards before, like the Siphon Witches. We know how to handle ourselves is all." Ash nodded at the logical way he'd handled it.

"With respect, it didn't seem like you three knew how to handle yourselves in the Vault of glass."

The room fell dead silent.

Ash's eyes darted from Matt to the Scorch, while her mouth hung slightly open in shock. It seemed like nobody in the room was even breathing, lest they set off a bomb. Eager seemed to be following Ash's example, and seemed nonplussed that Scorch had made such a provocative statement. Dawn, however, seemed to nod slightly in agreement with Scorch. Go figure, she'd practically been loyal to Scorch since her creation.

Matt's eyes narrowed after his initial surprise, and his voice seemed slightly less warm now. "I already acknowledged that we'd been out of our league when you rescued us Scorch. But I hardly see how that's relevant right now. The issue at hand is that your team is just a bit inexperienced to go chasing down powerful minions of the Darkness by yourself."

Eager piped up slightly, "Well, to be fair, I've been a city task force enforcer for longer than you've been a Guardian, so…" He quieted again from the look Matt gave him.

"I understand that you're somewhat experienced Eager, but with domestic issues for the most part; problems in the city. When it comes to being a Guardian team, you've all had about eight months tops to get acquainted, while Ash, Aria and I have had years." Aria nodded firmly, which was surprisingly rebellious of her compared to her usual mild-mannered behavior. Apparently, she was more defensive of him and Ash than she let on.

The Vanguards watched all this with wide-eyes, never suspecting that something like this would happen. Scorch tried again to fight her case.

"With respect-" she began, but she was quickly interrupted by Matt.

"You know, you keep saying 'with respect', but I'm yet to actually hear it in your voice." Her lips pursed, and her jaw clenched in response to Matt's boldness. Both Matt and Scorch leered at each other from alternate sides of the table, daring the other to make a remark.

"Enough." Eris's voice cut through their adrenaline-charged stupors, and forced them to listen. "I can see that you two cannot decide this amongst yourselves."

"You." She pointed at Matt and the Heroes. "You three will find the crystal, and shatter it. Bring me a shard so that I can see for my own eyes that Crota's anchor is broken." She pointed her hand the other way, at the Seekers. "You three will search for Omnigul, and put an end to her meddling."

Matt raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Ash looked at him, expecting him to object, but he simply stood there. She wondered why.

Scorch smiled slightly. "Thank you ma'am, we won't let you down."

Eris shook her head. "I don't give you this mission out of a sense of justice; it simply needs to be done. If you feel you are up to the task, you are more than welcome to try; but do not underestimate her craftiness, and do not dare to think of this all as a game of courage. Am I understood?" She glared at Scorch until the young Hunter mumbled an agreement under her duress. Then she nodded.

"In that case, I suggest you all retire to your rooms. Tomorrow, we begin our hunts."

-X-

Matt lay in bed, mulling over what had just happened. He'd never known Scorch to get so aggressive like that- well, except for when she was racing. All bets were off then. But during a briefing, while the Vanguards were there? Not to mention she'd pulled that fit in front of everyone else too, challenging his authority.

That thought struck him; what authority? Did he really wield any? He'd been appointed as leader of the Heroes, not by an actual feat, but because Ash and Aria had made him the de-facto commander of their first mission together. Maybe he was getting a little overbearing when he had no right to be. After all, Scorch was right; she and the Seekers had rescued them from the Vault of Glass. But even so, she was showing a lack of respect for him, and he needed to think about how to handle that one. He sighed outwardly.

A knock sounded on his door. He raised his head up to see it opening slowly, Ash on the other side.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked. He shook his head, and patted the bed next to him. She often had nightmares, they both did; having company did wonders to help someone through the night.

Complying with his gesture, she sat on the bed next to him. He sat up attentively, and tilted his head. "What was it tonight?"

"The Hellmouth," she whispered quietly. He should have expected that, especially after all that talk about the moon and their new mission. "I was dreaming of hanging over it again, but this time, you and Aria weren't there… you weren't there to help me when I fell."

Her body shook slightly. "I just fell, and God… I heard their screams, and- and I just felt like the worst things imaginable were going on down there."

Matt nodded. The best course of action was to just listen and sympathize, and he could do both of those well; he'd had similar dreams concerning the Black Garden, the Vault, and many others. The Hellmouth had been especially bad for Ash, and he completely understood how it had affected her.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?" she asked. He shook his head, showing her he was fine with it. They'd had to share a foxhole on more than one occasion, and this wasn't the first time she'd come here because of nightmares. He knew how others might see it as; but it didn't bug him.

In all the years they'd known one another, neither had tried to start a relationship based on those early feelings they'd felt in the first few months following them becoming a fireteam. Instead, they'd simply become best friends; inseparable, and as close as two people could be while still being platonic. So them sharing a bed didn't feel as awkward to him as it might have felt with someone else.

Turning his head to the ceiling, Matt continued to ponder the events of the night as Ash attempted to sleep. He had no idea how to manage it; give him a Fallen Captain anyway, or a Vex Minotaur- but trying to solve an argument with a rebellious teen wasn't in his cards.

Check that- she wasn't a teen. Since they'd been stuck for nearly five years in real-time in the Vault, she was only three or so years younger than he was; he needed to stop treating her as though she was so much younger, but he couldn't help thinking of her as that same girl that he and Aria had rescued from the rubble of the Urban district.

Ash turned her head back to the point where Matt could see the glow from her electric blue eyes, now open. "What's wrong?" Matt kept his head still, staring at the ceiling. How did she always know how to read him so well? He supposed that just came as a byproduct of their closeness.

She waited patiently next to him for him to speak.

"I just don't know how to react to the whole thing." He turned slightly to look at her where she returned his gaze. "About Scorch. I don't know why she lashed out so much today, and honestly- it felt a bit rude. What do you think?"

Ash was silent for a moment, thinking it over. When she finally spoke, she did it with an air of caution; "I'm not sure what to think. I mean, sure, she's never done anything like that before- but can you blame her now?"

Matt jerked his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

Ash took a deep breath. "Well, she does have a point- you do tend to take the more dangerous missions before she has a chance to prove herself. It's happened several times since we got back from the Vault, and I'm a bit surprised she hasn't brought it up sooner. That being said, she was indeed being very… mouthy about it. It could have been handled better."

He spun that line of thinking around in his head, mulling it over. Maybe she was right, maybe he just needed to stop trying to protect everyone. It was just difficult, with…

He shook his head, clearing those thoughts away, and smirked at Ash. "Who would have thought that the tough ol' Titan would be the voice of reason here?"

She reciprocated his sarcastic smile, and closed her eyes again. "I guess your own temperament is rubbing off on me more than I thought. I'll have to work on my gruffness some more."

They both laid in the silence for a few moments before Ash's eyes opened wide once more.

"Did you just call me old?"

-X-

Scorch leaned against the railing of the tower courtyard, her arms crossed in front of her to proved support for her torso. She looked out at the Traveler, floating high above the city lights in the distance. She remembered all the days of looking up at it, and staring at it through a window before falling asleep.

Spectre hovered up next to her. "You alright?" She gave a large exhale, refraining from looking at him.

"I know I shouldn't have said those things. It wasn't right, I just… I just wanted to get it off my chest, and finally have a chance to do something. Ever since we rescued them from he Vault, it's been one menial task after another. 'Clear out this Fallen coven', and 'take care of that rouge Knight on the city borders'."

She now turned her head to stare at him, her arms moving emphatically in the air to emphasize her point. "I mean, I'm a child of light, right? The one meant to bring about the Balance, if we ever find out what that is. I just want to be treated as such. I just want a bit more respect for us, the Seekers I mean."

Spectre bobbed in the air. "I know what you mean. But all the same… funny, I remember how biased I used to be. I still am to a degree, but… I can see their side of the coin. Maybe you just need to be a bit more patient, hmm?" He faced her again, and she turned away; not out of reluctance, but out of embarrassment, because she knew he was right to a point.

"Scorch?" The Hunter spun around at the sound of a familiar feminine voice, one that sounded synthesized like Spectre's.

"Hey, Seraph. What are you doing out so late?"

The little Ghost floated a few feet away, obviously feeling a bit awkward for intruding. "I was looking for you, actually. Could we talk?"

Scorch had a good idea that she was in for a lecture, but she nodded anyway. "Alright. What's on your mind?"

Seraph flew a little closer, trying to break the ice. "Well, I just noticed that today, you were a bit, um…"

"Harsh?" she provided, rolling her eyes that she was having to provide the speech for the Ghost's own chiding. Seraph however, just shook herself in a 'no' motion.

"That's not… look, that doesn't matter. I'm not here to find the reason behind your actions… I just wanted to explain the logic behind Matt's." Now this was new, and Scorch raised an eyebrow at the unexpected development.

Seraph began to emit a blue light, and a small box materialized. It was simple enough, just a small metal box for storage. Scorch caught it as it appeared, and held it in her hands. "What is this?"

The Ghost looked at her expectantly. "Open it." Obediently, she did as Seraph asked. Inside was nothing but pictures, scattered around the bottom of it. They were in reasonably good condition, but something about them seemed… old. The backgrounds didn't match any kind of thing she'd seen in her years here in the city, and she couldn't recognize where they'd been taken. They were of many things, places, a sunset, random people, but several particular individuals seemed to stand out, there seemed to have more pictures with them than the others. She saw a boy and a girl, young and mischievous looking. She saw an older girl and guy laughing together, and then saw the same girl hugging-

"Is that… Matt?" she whispered curiously. Gingerly, she picked up the photo and held it between her thumb and forefinger, analyzing it. He certainly looked like Matt, albeit a younger incarnation by several years; he had brown hair and green eyes to match, and his face shone with the familiar enthusiasm that was so often seen in Matt.

Seraph nodded. "Matt gave this box for me to hold onto. He probably thought I'd get rid of it eventually, but I've held onto it for him. Just in case." Scorch marveled at the history these photographs told.

"See, Matt is different from other Guardians. Unlike most of them, he was conscripted, not recruited. Most people had thought that the days of reviving individuals who had died in the past long ago were over; it had been nearly ten years since the last revival of a Golden-Age Guardian, and light tends to deteriorate when left out for years, exposed to the Darkness. But I'd had this feeling, this mindset that I was going to be the next Ghost to do it."

She laughed. "Ever since the day I revived him, Matt has taken care of me as my Guardian, and I have watched over him as his Ghost. But I was wrong- he wasn't a human from the Golden-Age; he was from before the Golden-Age, from the days when the Traveler had first been discovered."

Scorch made a small 'o' shape with her mouth; she'd never known that about him. Seraph continued to explain, "He'd lead a decent life, despite some bumps. He'd had friends, family." Seraph gestured at the young boy and girl. "Those two were his twin siblings. He's never even told me their names, he talks about his past so little." They were looking up at Matt as the photo had been taken, admiring their big brother.

Seraph hovered over the one with the boy and girl who looked to be Matt's age at the time. "That's Lucas and Sara. They were his best friends. Sara, perhaps… was something more." The final photo she showed Scorch was the one of Matt and Sara together, hugging as the picture was taken. Scorch found it odd how familiar Sara looked...

"She died. A genetic disease struck her down in her youth, and caused her to wither away slowly. Matt stuck with her until the end. He told me she died in his arms." The Ghost's voice sounded sad as she spoke these last few lines of exposition.

Scorch's hand shook slightly. "Why did you show me this?" Seraph was silent for a moment.

"I showed you this because I want you to understand; Matt had a life. He didn't choose this one, it was simply a second chance for him after he was yanked so suddenly from his past, away from his family and friends, from all that he cared about. He doesn't even know what happened to them; the only person he has closure about is with Sara, and it's because she died next to him." She looked Scorch in the eyes.

"I just want you to understand why you see him as overbearing; it's because he's protective of his friends and family to no end. He almost killed himself in order to keep Aria and Ash out of the Black Garden, he did kill himself during the Battle for the Traveler, and he's saved their lives more than one can count. He never wants to have to go through the pain of losing a friend again, and that includes you." With that, Seraph stored the box and photos once more, and hovered away, obviously finished with her conversation.

Scorch turned back to the railing again. Spectre watched her, but said nothing. Equally, she kept the silence; she simply stared out at the Traveler again, pondering over what Seraph had revealed to her.