Ash turned her head weakly when she head footsteps walking down the hall outside her room. Within a few seconds, she was able to put a face to the sounds when Matt walked through the open doorway. She tried to smile in an attempt to show him she was fine, but she could tell that he wasn't having any of it.

His eyes first looked over at Dawn who was kneeling next to the bed, having been talking with Ash. Dawn followed her twin's gaze to the doorway, and hastily stood up. "I'll be back in a bit," she muttered, trying to give the other two some alone time to discuss what had happened.

He walked over to the chair that he'd left at her bedside, and sat down, his back hunched over and his hands clasped together in between his legs. Ash had seen Matt worried before, she knew his facial expressions and body language all too well.

"Hey," she called softly. He said nothing, but she watched his eyes spark in acknowledgement. She figured that he was going to remain that way until someone calmed him down, and apparently that job was now left to her.

"Look, I'm fine," she said, trying to assuage his fears. "I'm fine, everything's gonna be okay." Without saying a word, Matt reached over and lifted up the blanket that she'd been using to conceal the gaping hole in her chest. He just looked at her, expecting her to comment on that and attempt to form a rebuttal.

She sighed. "Everything is in working order there, I can breathe fine again, and they're going to fix up the plating there so that my innards aren't exposed anymore," she said with a lighthearted tone.

"I almost lost you today."

Her eyes immediately lowered, hearing the pain in Matt's voice. Hearing it so apparent in his tone and for her sake just made her feel horrible. "I know, but the point is that you didn't. I'm here, I'm right here." She reached over a hand, and he reciprocated by extending his own and holding hers gently in it, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

"I know, I know." He exhaled deeply. "I just… you know that I get worried. Especially with how bad a condition you were in." She said nothing; she actually didn't know how bad things had gone with her, she'd been unconscious for most of the time after she'd been impaled. And from Matt's tone, she wasn't sure she wanted to know just how close to death she'd come.

"So, everything's good?" she asked.

He nodded. "Omnigul's dead, we destroyed the crystal; all that's left is to wait for Eris's word, and it's off to kill Crota for us."

She smiled sadly. "Just one mission after another with you, huh?" He sighed, and his eyes turned slightly to where he wasn't meeting her gaze.

"I don't know. I just needed something else to focus on, something to keep you out of my mind." He looked back at her, an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry if that sounds harsh."

She shook her head. "Not harsh, I get it. Can't be falling apart on everyone." She thought about the reason she'd challenged that Knight in the first place. "How's Scorch? Is she alright?"

At the mention of the other Hunter's name, Matt's eyes darkened, and flicked to his hands. Ash followed the brief movement, and saw something that surprised her. "Is that blood?"

He wiped his hands on his jacket. It wasn't very much, but it was blood nonetheless. "It was nothing; we just had a bit of a spat."

"A 'spat' left you with blood on your hands? What'd you do, beat her up?" She said it with a slight joking tone in her voice, but surprisingly he shrugged unapologetically.

"Just popped her in the mouth pretty well. Cayde stopped things before they got too out of hand." He held a hand up as she began to sit up to scold him, "I didn't want anything to get that far, but she pushed way past her limits and some personal boundaries."

"What boundaries?" she asked incredulously. She'd never known Matt to get so angry that he'd snap and attack a fellow Guardian except when he'd protected her from the three rogue Guardians who still thought she was the Warrior and had tried to throw her off the tower.

He looked away, and took several seconds before answering. "Somehow, she knew about Sara. Pretty sure that Seraph might have told her. And she decided to throw her death in my face, saying that I was comparing you to her."

Ash had no words; Scorch had brought Sara into this? That was low, way too low. Still, she was more logical in her assessment of the situation than anyone else apparently; tensions had likely been high for both teams, seeing as Scorch had just finished trying to take down Omnigul and gotten stuck in the middle of a small invasion of the tower, and Matt had been dealing with the fact that Ash had been in critical condition. It was no wonder that they both probably did several things that each of them regretted.

"You didn't blame her for me, did you?" she whispered. He kept his gaze away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. It was all but a confirmation.

"Matt…" she said, wondering how she could fix this. "That wasn't her fault, and I know that you know that just as well as I do." He still said nothing, but his shoulders were tensing up, showing that he was definitely listening to her. She sat up straighter against the frame of the bed, despite the slight pain that it took to do so.

"Look at me." He obeyed, and she found herself looking into his pained eyes, hints of shame hidden behind them. Blue stared into green, unyielding.

"I want you to tell me that you know it's not her fault," she said sternly. He waited a few moments, but relented.

"Of course I know it's not her fault; but with all the stress of everything spiraling out of control, her total disregard for the severity of the situation, and then the way she provoked me…" He snorted derisively. "She sure as hell didn't make it too hard to see a connection, even if there wasn't one. My mind just needed someone to blame, and I guess she put herself in the line of fire."

Ash nodded knowingly. "I get it, believe me. But things still need to be fixed between you two." He returned her nod.

"Oh, I know. But not right now, I'm thinking that maybe I need a bit of space from her. Once I get a clear head back on my shoulders, I'll be sure to patch things up. So long as she's willing to do the same."

Ash laughed. "Oh, believe me, I'm sure that after a smack like the one you probably gave her, she'll be all for getting on your good side." Matt rolled his eyes.

"Oh, she's tougher than she lets on; she can take a sock to the jaw every now and then." He smiled.

They sat there contentedly, simply enjoying the silence and each other's company for once. Matt thought about when the last time they'd had a chance for quality time together was, and he felt more than a little disappointed that they hadn't had the opportunity to relax for a long time. An idea struck him, and he realized that maybe he could take up Cayde and Eris on their order to rest and wait for further instruction.

"You said that the healers are gonna come in here and repair your plating?"

She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, in a few hours. Once they do, I'll be good as new and released. However, I'm pretty sure that Whip said something about Light not working on me for a few days."

He smirked. "Well, I've got an idea then. And don't worry, the Light detail won't be an issue." He stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked confusedly. He held his hands up in submission.

"I'm just gonna let Dawn come back in here for a while; besides, I need to set up something with a contact of mine. I'll be back soon." With that, he stepped out of the room, leaving her to ponder what it was he was discussing with this so-called 'contact' of his.

-X-

Scorch strolled down the sidewalk, her hands in her jacket pockets. She wore her hood up, attempting to protect herself from the elements. It was winter as evidenced by the cold sparrow race she'd had a few weeks ago and the light snowfall that drifted through the air now; though it rarely snowed hard in the city, there were often freak storms in the winter like the one happening currently which left the city under a layer of white fluff. It may have been pretty if she'd been someone else, but her personal experiences when it came to dealing with frost and freezing temperatures involved huddling for warmth in a cardboard box as a homeless teen.

After the colossal breakdown of the situation earlier, she'd decided to take up Aria's advice and head out on her own for a bit. Eager would be fine on his own, probably try to see what he could help the task force with, and Dawn wanted to be with Ash for a while. Scorch was perfectly content letting both of them do that, as she wanted nothing but to be left alone for awhile.

There was no denying it now; she'd screwed up. Matt had given her a chance, albeit reluctantly, when Eris had assigned Scorch to kill Omnigul. She had taken that chance, and not only had she been unable to contain the situation, the Heroes had to step in, and Ash had nearly died.

Not only that, but she'd acted like a brat; trying to find someone to pin her troubles on rather than accepting her own mistakes. She found a small part of her still arguing for her original side, but now the majority of Scorch's mind sided with Matt; she'd been careless, unprepared. And then she had to bring up Sara's death and use it against him. She wouldn't even forgive someone if they had said what she did to her. So who was she to ask that Matt do it?

She stepped around another civilian, one of the few passerby out and about like her. No, the only choice was to take his criticism and learn from it. This wasn't usually like her; but maybe she didn't want to be usual anymore. This was a new, more mature Scorch that walked around in the city streets, one with a slightly wider understanding of how the world worked than the Scorch that had fought Matt in the tower.

Maybe she needed a drink to calm her nerves. She looked around, noticing that she was in a part of the city that wasn't as… well, proper as the rest of it. It was more of a low-life area, where people probably weren't gonna be as kind. Still, that didn't mean much. She could handle herself fine, and she'd had to pass through parts like these as a kid without incident. As she craned her neck around, she spied a bar, appearing to be in reasonably better condition than the rest of the surrounding area, and she set off at a brisk pace for it.

She pushed open the doors and stepped inside quickly, trying to be polite and keep the snowfall from tracking in with her. There were a few other customers inside, most of them sitting at the bar counter, though a few of them sat at small tables that adorned the rest of the place every so often.

She decided to follow the popular example, and found a lone seat at the far end of the bar, away from other people and prying eyes. The bartender walked over to her, and grunted. She took that as an inquiry of what she was going to order.

"Some type of whiskey if you've got it," she muttered. He shrugged, and moved a ways way to grab some bottles and pour them into a glass. He placed it on the counter, and slid it down to her waiting hand. She raised it up to her lips, and drank, feeling the burn of it against her throat in a satisfying feeling not unlike a cleanse. Spectre materialized discreetly, and hovered next to her on the left where he wouldn't be seen.

"There's no point in my chastising you when everyone else has already done a good enough job of it." She sighed, and faced the Ghost.

"Then what's your point?"

He wavered a bit in the air. "I don't really have a point. I mean, you know you screwed up, and you're probably kicking yourself the hardest right now, and rightfully so. I'm just asking; are you going to fix it?" She knew that he was referring to the bond between her and Matt. She exhaled slowly, mulling that one over in her mind.

"I have to try. I know that I have to make things right, and I'm definitely capable of that; but whether he'll want to have any ties afterwards, I don't know. And I'm fine if he doesn't, because I was a horrible friend to him, and honestly I don't deserve his friendship right now." She shook her head angrily at herself. "I can't believe I said something so wrong to him. I had no right to do that."

Spectre bobbed in the air in agreement. "See, you're maturing already. Like I said, no point in adding onto the scolding from me, you're already doing a great job of it yourself."

She rolled her eyes, but smirked nonetheless. "Thanks."

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door to the bar opening, and the whistle of the wind as it tried to enter after the person using it. Sounded like the storm was getting worse.

She saw the bartender glance up at the newcomer, and immediately narrow his eyes. "Hey, we don't serve your kind here. Hit the road!" he called, jabbing his thumb to the side. Scorch was taken aback by the bartender's attitude, and turned around to see who had entered.

It was an Exo, their entire form covered with flakes of snow and his joints creaking from the ice that had been forming on them. The figure seemed to be that of a male, taller and with a frame more like Eager's than that of Ash or Dawn. They wore clothing that looked like it might help against the cold a little, but obviously wasn't ideal; he wore nothing other than a pair of old jeans with several holes in them, and a thin black jacket covered with white flecks of ice.

"I'm not looking for a drink, don't worry. I just want to be somewhere warmer than it is out there." He nodded his head toward the door, iterating how cold and chilling it was at this time.

The bartender shook his head. "I didn't ask what you're looking for, whatever it is you ain't gonna find it here. Doesn't matter if it's a cardboard box for all I care, but you can find someplace else to hole up in tonight."

Scorch couldn't believe her ears, and expected someone to call out the obvious bigotry. But none of the other customers seemed even remotely disturbed by the incident, and kept their heads turned away as the Exo looked from person to person, looking for any support from the patrons. She realized that he wasn't going to find any at the same time that he did, and he sighed, pulling the hood of his jacket back up as he prepared to enter the blistering cold again. He turned to the door.

"Uh, no." All fell silent as the Exo stopped moving, and turned toward the sound of Scorch's voice. The bartender also saw her, and narrowed his eyes.

"If you'd like, you can get out too lady. I have the right to tell him to shove off." She was already shaking her head, and revealed Spectre to the entire establishment.

"Actually, you don't. At least not while I'm here; see, I'm a Guardian in case you haven't noticed. I'm one of the people who helps defend all of humanity from extinction, extinction from several races of aliens that want all of us dead, organic or not. And I talk with the Vanguards daily, y'know those people who are basically in charge of the city and your protection? Oh, and one of which is an Exo?" She smirked as she rubbed it in his face, though she was fuming inside. Who did this racist asshole think he was?

"So if you don't mind, I'm going to officially request politely that you refrain from throwing him out. I suppose it's your choice, but just know that the alternative is having the Vanguards find out about this little incident; and I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy about it." She shrugged, and waited for his decision.

The bartender was slightly red in the face and looked like he wanted to argue, but with one final expression of disgust that he cast over at both her and the Exo, he turned around and left them alone. Scorch stood up away from the counter, and walked over to one of the tables in a more secluded part of the bar, beckoning for the Exo to follow her.

He did as she gestured, and sat opposite of the seat that she took. Upon sitting, he began to try and scrape away the ice-crystals and snow that had frozen on his face. She saw that he was a mix of maroon and white coloring underneath all the snow, and his eyes were a vibrant amethyst. She cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that," she muttered quietly so that only he could hear. "But at least it turned out alright, and you're not out in the cold any more."

The Exo said nothing, but just stared at her silently as he rubbed his arms to generate friction and warmth back into them. She was surprised to see suspicion in his eyes. "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just not used to having anyone try to help me, and I'm a bit confused as to why you did."

"What do you mean?"

He pointed at himself emphatically. "Look at me, I'm an Exo! An inorganic! I don't have emotions, right? Nothing other than property that's incapable of feeling?" he asked, bitterness ever apparent in his voice. Scorch was pained to hear him talk about himself like this, probably due to hearing nothing else for the entirety of his life. She remarked on how few Exos she'd seen in her time growing up, and this was probably why; what reason would they have to interact with humans and Awoken if they were just rejected every time?

She pursed her lips. "I don't believe in that crap. The whole, 'they don't have emotions' thing is utter garbage, I've seen it up-close." The Exo looked astonished at her radically different view, and she looked away. "I wish I could say that I was like this forever, but I know that when I was younger I used to believe it; I didn't have any other people taking care of me when I was living on the streets, and I knew nothing save for what they told me. All those stereotypes, the beliefs that the people of the city held, I had them too for a time."

She shrugged. "But I stopped when I met Spectre. He gave me a better understanding of them, and I came to realize that the best way to live the way I did was to stick together as a community, to take care of one another and watch out for each other. Didn't matter if you were organic or not. Of course," she said, shame creeping into her voice as she thought about her initial feelings about Matt and Ash's friendship, feelings that she'd buried a long time ago in the back of her mind, "previous biases do try to come up every now and again. It's just a matter of shoving them back down in favor of what I believe now."

The Exo said nothing, but his mouth was slightly agape. She supposed that he hadn't heard an opinion like hers in a long time, perhaps ever. He quickly shut it again, probably trying to save face. He grunted. "Who are you?"

"Scorch. And you?" she responded.

He took a moment before replying, "Name's Rook-4. Obviously, you can leave off the number." She nodded, grateful for him sharing his information with her.

"Out of curiosity, why didn't you shut off your neuro-sensors? I mean, that would take care of the cold problem right?" she asked. Rook appeared to ponder that for a moment, and then shrugged.

"It just doesn't feel right. Like, imagine as if every sensory input of yours was suddenly turned off; you can't taste, hear, see, or feel anything." He gestured to himself. "Obviously it doesn't go that far, but the feeling is the same; my sense of feeling is the one thing that keeps my feeling like a normal person, and I don't like to give it up unless I have to, no matter how uncomfortable it gets."

She could understand that, not wanting to sacrifice such a valuable sense. Not only was it probably valued highly by him, but not having it on could probably lead to a vulnerability of being unable to sense what's going on around him. And he would probably have to constantly be on his toes and aware of his surroundings if he was living out on the streets in this part of the city.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" That question came as a surprise, and she found his purple eyes staring intently at her. "There's no way a Guardian like you just decided to come out to this place for no reason." She sighed.

"I had a fight with a good friend of mine. I may have completely destroyed our friendship, and I was trying to find somewhere I could be alone and let my regret and guilt hit me full force. We both went too far; but I was absolutely in the wrong concerning the argument."

Scorch looked away shamefully. "I brought up the one person he couldn't save, the one person that he failed to keep from dying, and it wasn't even his fault. I don't know if I can ever make it up to him, but I sure as hell have to try."

Rook cocked his head curiously. "I'm sure that he'll find it in him to forgive you."

She raised an eyebrow in doubt. "And what makes you say that?"

He fidgeted slightly. "In my experience, I've found that forgiveness comes a lot more easily when genuine remorse and regret is involved. An apology is never quite as effective unless there's sincerity to it. You seem to be kicking yourself pretty hard, and I'm sure he realizes it." Her eyes widened slightly, seeing that he was more familiar with relationships than he'd let on.

"Really?"

He nodded. "I mean, I've been cast aside from society for my whole life, treated like nothing but something to be taken advantage of by everyone I meet."

"What does that prove?"

"Well, I'm sitting here talking with you, right?"

She was taken aback. He looked down. "Organics have done nothing but rebuke me, and yet I saw someone who was willing to take a stand for me. I could have thrown it back in your face… but I'm of the opinion that everyone deserves a second chance." He gestured to the bar around them. "These people are angry at Exos because they don't understand us, because they think that we're nothing except unfeeling machines. But I'm willing to give anyone a second chance when they show that they feel regret for their wrongdoings." He gestured at Scorch.

"Your friend was angry with you because he probably thought that you didn't care about what you said, and had no remorse. It's pretty obvious to me that you do, and I think you just need to prove that to him." He sat back in his chair, and Scorch remarked inwardly once again at how deceptively wise Rook was.

Looking down, she saw that she'd finished her drink. There was no real point in sticking around since she had a feeling that the bartender was going to be quite reluctant to get her a refill, but she didn't want to leave Rook alone; no doubt as soon as she left, the bartender would throw the Exo out into the cold. An idea struck her.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." His eyes widened.

"What, out into the cold?"

She shook her head. "I just doubt that the bartender is gonna let you stay after I leave, so I've got a different plan. You coming or not?"

Rook debated with himself for a moment before he hesitantly stood up to leave with her.

-X-

Her apartment door swung open with a creak. She stepped inside, Rook following behind tentatively.

"I was offered a place at the tower," explained Scorch as Spectre began to transmat her gear onto the floor, "but I kept my apartment in addition to my new room there. It was the first home I really earned on my own and I keep around for whenever I need to get away for a bit."

He looked around, taking it all in before she threw a blanket and pillow at him. "What is this?" he asked, confused at what she was doing. She pointed to one of the two large couches she had.

"I don't expect you want to sleep out in the cold, do you?" She saw his hands raising to protest, and immediately cut him off. "I'm serious, it's not a big deal. I'm gonna crash here on this one, so feel free to take either the bed or the other couch." She dragged her own blanket and pillow over to one of the couches, and laid down on it, pulling the sheets over her body.

Rook debated with himself for just a few seconds before coming to the understanding that he most likely wouldn't get an offer like this ever again, and he sat down on the couch that she'd indicated was free for him. He set his pillow behind his head, and let his head rest on it as he stared around the dark room.

"You know," he began, "I've never had one before."

"What," she mumbled jokingly, "a bed?"

"Well, yeah," he chuckled in response, "but I meant a friend. You're the first person who's ever stood up for me like that."

He turned to her, and purple eyes met hazel. "Thank you." Then, he turned away and fell silent, both of them falling asleep quickly from the events that had transpired that night.

-X-

The Acolyte scrambled away from his master, fearing punishment for bringing such tragic news. He did not realize that the master held no ill will towards him; he would not mercilessly butcher his own soldiers, he'd been trained better than that.

Instead, he turned to the great oversoul above and roared in fury to the void. His greatest apprentice, his protege; slaughtered by those filthy bags of flesh. And the crystal he'd tethered his soul to so long ago, his only current presence in the mortal realm- destroyed. Now, he had no way to forcefully bring himself back without help from the worms.

Having expended his anger, his chest heaved with exhilaration. He would not allow Omnigul's death to be in vain. When they came for him- and he knew they would come for him, what other reason would they have to target her and the crystal?- he would kill them all, stick them all upon the spit of his sword.

Crota would have his vengeance.