Loyalty is a fickle friend.

When thoughts run dark, and peace is uncertain, all will flock to easy security, to the promise of safety and guardianship.

But when those threats fade, and the need for protectors has died, love soon turns to hate.

The admiration for which the populace may hold for their saviors will flee, and be replaced with a fear which may not have been there before.

To have total control, you must have both fear and hope.

All fear and no hope means that they have nothing to lose.

All hope and no fear means that they have nothing to shy away from.

But the child of both fear and hope can ensure total obedience; they will rely on another's ability to save them, believing that they are unable to save themselves. In order to make sure that they meet this hero, they will listen until that hope reveals itself.

The trick is to never show them that there truly is no hope …

… or that the hope is not a pleasant aspiration, but a reality.

MANY YEARS AGO

Tiredly, Aria raised the glass of alcohol to her lips. Matt looked over at his own cup, which he'd been slowly sipping way for the last half of an hour. Even with some of it still left, he'd suddenly lost the urge to drink any more.

Whenever he drank, it was for one of three things; to celebrate, to numb, or to forget. Right now, he was drinking because he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"So," he muttered drowsily, "still no sign of him, huh?"

Aria shook her head, staring at the counter in front of her as the bartender passed by them. "No. We've searched just about everywhere now, and no sign of him. And he's definitely not hiding on purpose, there's no reason behind a move like that."

Rook had been missing for over two weeks now. On the first day or so, they hadn't been too worried. They thought that he was just somewhere in the city, either in minor trouble or carelessly roaming around. Their slight anger had quickly become anxiety when they found that there was no indication whatsoever of where he'd gone. Scorch and Dawn had simply woken up one day, and he wasn't there.

While Matt couldn't claim to know Rook as well as the two who lived with the guy, the Exo had been on familiar terms with him. He was friendly, humorous, and a generally enjoyable person to be around. He wasn't the kind of person who would go missing for such an extended period of time on his own volition.

Which meant that there was something potentially more sinister going on.

They'd been taking shifts for a bit, two to a team to track him down while the others rested. Aria and Matt had just finished their own respective rounds of the city, and turned up with nothing just like every other time they'd gone out.

No witnesses. No clues. No Rook.

His disappearance was taking its toll on everyone, Scorch the most heavily, but it provoked something else within Matt that he hadn't told anyone; curiosity.

Guardians just weren't needed like they had been before. Even before Oryx, Guardian activity had started to wane. Most of the menaces from the Darkness had been rather straightforward, and dealt with accordingly.

The Black Garden.

Retrieving the Spark of the Traveler from Mercury.

Atheon, Time's Conflux.

Kaine, in the Vault of Glass.

Crota, Prince of the Hive.

Skolas, the Kell of Kells.

Oryx, the Taken King.

The Darkness had run out of threats to throw at them. Oryx had been the last major opposition to the City, and they'd taken him down two years ago. Most thought that any thought of attack from the Darkness was now no more than an unlikely thought, however negative it may be.

But he thought otherwise.

He'd been fighting the Darkness for seven years, twelve if you counted the time that he'd spent frozen in limbo in the Vault. Since the moment he'd been resurrected, he'd had to adapt to the enemies of this time, defending the Last City from the minions that the Darkness sent to consume the light.

And one of the things he had learned was that whenever all seemed to be at peace, that was when the Darkness struck.

Many thought that his mild paranoia came from PTSD, that he was losing his edge. He wouldn't be the first Guardian to fall victim to mental trauma. The horrors of constant battle would wear down anyone's mind, providing a constant source of stress of which there was no relief.

While that may be true, he was confident that he was right. Rook's disappearance didn't make sense in any other context, it didn't add up. He had no idea why the Darkness would need an Exo, but it just did. Something was coming, he could feel it, he could-

"Matt, are you alright?"

Aria's voice jolted him back to reality, and away from the haunting voices that had begun to chant in his head. He looked down to see his hand shaking involuntarily, twitching like a dying spider.

"Yeah," he dismissed, "I'm fine." Shakily grabbing his glass, he downed the remainder and set it back on the counter. Instantly, he felt himself relax a bit more, and noticed that his hand had stopped spasming.

In front of him, Seraph materialized. "I think that's enough for you."

He nodded his agreement, quickly waving at her so she could pay the bar for the drink. "Probably. Aria, I'm gonna head back home. I'll see you in the morning."

She gave a worried expression, but held back any comments other than, "Good night." He knew better than to assume she wasn't thinking those same things about him. She heard the rumors that others spread behind his back, the mutters they spoke of his sanity when they thought he couldn't hear. He knew that she would never engage in those talks, but perhaps she still held a small belief in their validity deep down.

In any case, he wasn't worried about her questioning his judgement. Even if she didn't share his fears, he knew that she would follow whatever command he gave her, as would the others. They respected him far too much for any callous speculation that anyone made of his mental health to have an effect on their loyalty to each other and him.

Slowly, he shambled his way through the streets, clumsy more from exhaustion than the liquor in his system. Spending every day exploring each nook and cranny in the city as well as beyond the walls definitely put some strain on his body. Thankfully, they were practically empty due to the late hour, which meant that there weren't any citizens around to gawk at him and whisper hearsay under their breaths.

For the most part, the people of the City already held a previous healthy fear of Guardians, one that came as a result of their respect for them and their deeds. But with the decrease in necessity for them, that respect was slowly dwindling down. He didn't need anyone judging all Guardians on behalf of his own sluggish behavior at the moment.

Reaching the ground lobby of the tower, he pushed into it and quickly found himself an elevator. Leaning against the side, he stared out at the lights of the City through the glass wall, and was almost rocked to sleep by the steady vibrations of the conveyor as it guided itself up the rails towards the courtyard. Only when it had reached the top and gave a beep of confirmation that they had arrived did he give a loud start, and realize where he was again.

Shuffling out of the elevator, he walked to his room and opened the door. Even in his foggy state, he was careful to remain quiet as to not wake the individual currently occupying the bed.

As it turned out, Ash was still awake. He blearily saw two glowing blue lights appear in the dark, and stare back at him as he moved to the bed. "Hey."

"Hey," he muttered back, lying down on the mattress next to her. She remained looking at him.

"Anything?"

He shook his head, then tiredly rotated it to look back at her. "You?"

"Nothing," she admitted softly. "Scorch is going crazy with worry."

He had no response to that. The two of them were great friends, it was true; having both lived on the streets for much of their lives, Scorch and Rook easily related to one another, and it wasn't hard to see how their friendship had grown. He'd even spent time with the others of the Legends, and they'd taken a liking to him. It wasn't easy for anyone.

Beside him, she gave a worried sigh. "Matt … do you … do you think that maybe he's … ?"

Softly shushing her, he kissed the top of her head. "Hey, don't think like that. I'm sure he's still holding out, wherever he is."

Satisfied with that answer, she let her head fall back on the pillows and began to finally sleep. Little did she know that his advice was hypocritical in nature.

Truthfully, he'd be very surprised if they weren't looking for a corpse by now.

—X—

Setting Clara on some kind of mat he'd laid on the floor, the Hunter disappeared for a moment to get some supplies.

She had still lost a lot of ichor, and was in somewhat of a daze currently. As far as she could tell, they were no longer in the Hunter's ship, but rather in some kind of building. Everything was made of wood, and it gave her the idea that perhaps they were in a cabin, or a cottage.

She heard the sound of the Hunter's boots on the floor before she saw him come back into her field of vision and kneel down next to her. Laying out the items, she saw that it was some kind of metallic looking plant.

Gently, he reached his hands in to strip away the coverings he'd applied, revealing her chest. "Deactivate your neuro-sensors if you haven't already."

Hazily, she followed his order. After a moment or two, he seemed sure that she'd followed his direction, and he moved in to grab her 'skin'. Finding a seam in the damaged metal, he pried her plating apart and looked to Ghost, who was circling around them both.

"Get to work."

Ghost looked at the Hunter oddly. "What do you mean?"

The Hunter gestured at her. "Her wounds. Use the spinmetal to create replacement parts. You'd be surprised at how many uses this stuff has."

Ghost looked nervously from her weak form to the man ordering him to perform surgery on her. "I've never done this before! I don't know how-"

"Then she's going to die," the Hunter said seriously.

Ghost jerked back at his grim declaration. "Why can't your Ghost heal her?"

"Ghosts are tied to their partners," the Hunter explained. "Mine is bonded to me. You'll need to be bonded to her in order to help."

"Bonds between humanity and Ghosts haven't happened since-"

"I know," the Hunter growled. "Believe me, I'm more than aware. But if you want her to live, then you'll put aside your fears and get to work."

The polyhedron ran out of things to say, and instead took a long look at Clara as she began to fade away. Gathering his strength, he began to emit a beam of light from his eye, using it on her injuries as he floated about. The Hunter looked at the spinmetal and was pleased to see that it was being used up.

Tiredly, Clara looked at him. "So … this other Hunter … you knew them well?"

The Hunter looked at her, deciding to humor her since she wasn't in the most comfortable of situations at the moment. "You could say that."

"Well, where … where do you fit into the picture? I thought this was your story."

He gave a tired sigh. "I come into the picture later, but … this isn't just my story. It's a story. And with most stories, there's usually more to them than it may seem at first. There were a lot of people and events that lead up to the point of me being here, telling the tale to you."

Groggily, she scrunched up her face. "Well, you've … you've thrown me a few names in … that story of yours. Mind … telling me your own? I don't want to … to just call you … 'the Hunter' all the time."

He froze, and for a second she thought that she went too far. But upon further inspection, it seemed more like he was contemplating her request.

"Woods."

He said it simply, and with an air of finality. The name was sure simple enough, and she wasn't even sure if it was his real name; but it was the one she'd been given, so she was going to use it. "Alright … Woods. So what … what happened next?"

With a deep breath as Ghost continued to heal her, he begun the tale anew.

A/N: Short chapter, yeah. Sorry about that, but I've been working on a project for a film contest, and just submitted my entry yesterday. Haven't had a lot of time to work on writing, and I wanted to get this chapter out before spring break ended.

In any matter, I don't have much else to talk about. Everything's pretty much normal. Digging the new Samurai Jack episodes, they're pretty awesome. Check them out if you haven't already.

I guess that's it. Please follow, favorite, and review! I love reading your thoughts.

Until the next time,

- Matteoarts