Ozpin's Guardian
"Ms. Ikora, If I may,"
"Mm, yes go ahead, Amaranthine."
"Well," The warlock now identified as Amaranthine squared up the sheets of paper in front of her seat at the war table. "It seems as this new celestial body… bodies," They corrected themself. "Don't possess an immediate threat to us. Ms. Ikora, I… have an idea."
"Go on…" Ikora stated evenly. She already had an idea where her protege was going with their idea, Ikora even thought it too, but she just had to make sure. People make mistakes, she was not one to think of herself as above everyone else. Besides, she wasn't perfect, other people's ideas are always worth listening to.
"I want to visit the galaxy! Establish some sort of contact with the life forms of 'Remnant,'" Amaranthine finished nervously, obviously intimidated by their superior. Usually they weren't one to suggest ideas, mainly performing and executing to the degree Ikora asked her for.
"I see…" Ikora started off with, making Amaranthine flinch internally, "I thought the same thing. You're skilled and experienced enough to go out on your own."
"I- M- Ms. Ikora, thank you-"
"You have cleared dungeons, raids, crafted exotics, achieved the highest honors in the Crucible and Gambit, and so much more. I'm proud of you, Amaranthine."
Amaranthine was thrown into a state of shock, they have never thought of their teacher having such high praise for themself. Remembering all of their accomplishments brought them back, all the good memories they have made, but to hear it from Ikora herself? Yeah, today was nothing short of amazing.
Ikora gleamed internally at the outstanding warlock in front of her. In her mind, they deserved this, it was admirable for them to be able to accept a mission on their own, hell, even to establish a mission of their own, it was like she was a parent watching their child come of age. Ikora held nothing back from her compliments, they deserved it after all. There wasn't anything for her to hide from Amaranthine now, her best student is a trustable one.
"We shall get preparations ready then," Ikora gleamed at her student. "Expect to leave by the end of the week, undetermined amount of time for this expedition. Report back regularly through Alyss. Learn as much as you can, don't forget your training, and most importantly…" Ikora paused for effect, "Take care of yourself, Amaranthine. I've taught you well."
Amaranthine was at a loss for words for the second time today, thoroughly delighted at their teacher. They took a moment to themselves to shake themself out of their stupor.
"Amaranthine, time to get a move on. You have preparations to do, yes? I can't do everything for you, but I have some books I would like for you to take on your journey to study up on some of the… intricacies of the Light. Stop by my desk before you go, okay?"
Amaranthine's head perked up instantly, and quickly nodded. "Yes, of course, Ms. Ikora. Thank you again."
"Anytime, Amaranthine." Ikora watched Amaranthine walk away, then sparing one last glance at her before they closed the door behind them. A shriek of excitement penetrated through the walls of the H.E.L.M., putting a small smile on the legendary warlock's face.
Three days was hardly enough time for preparations for a kind of mission like this. Especially one without a defined time frame. Amaranthine cursed under their breath as they sprinted from one side of the tower to the other. Amanda Holliday was nice enough to perform maintenance on their ship and sparrow at such a short notice, something Amaranthine was never good at. A reward from their time in Gambit, Drift Apart, was their favorite ship. Along with their sparrow they were so proud of, Always On Time, from Scourge of the Past, they were both dropped off for some much needed repairs and furnishings. Surely now they would have no problems during their travel to Remnant. Definitely not.
Amaranthine handed in multitudes of guns rewarded to them for the various pursuit, ritual, and pinnacle quests they had accomplished over her time. Thanking the gunsmith with a polite bow, they backed away and turned the corner to one of the two vault access terminals. Amaranthine studied their collection of several exotics, and countless legendary standouts. Why me… how is it possible to make a decision?
Amaranthine only managed to make a decision on about a third of their guns available on the first day of preparation. While they had always been grateful for the generous amount of guns and armor they could house on their person, not being able to access the vault and having to make the decision proved to be more difficult and more frustrating than Amaranthine ever imagined. By slamming their head against the terminal's user control panel, they attracted the attention of one of their longtime friends.
To say Lord Shaxx was big would be a dishonor to him. Standing at a huge 6'11", he easily towered over the already decently tall, 6' warlock. To imagine them two being some of the greatest friends was nearly impossible, their personalities being the main reason, but their synergy and interactions were second to none.
"Ahahaha, I've heard the good news from Ikora, Amara! A mission on your own!" Shaxx slapped their back, forcing them off their feet and stumbling forward to catch themself.
"Y- yeah! You were so right, Shaxx, Ikora is proud!"
Shaxx's chuckle was deep and loud, but mostly, very contagious. They both laughed at the reference, and only after several seconds did they calm down.
"That is, quite the collection you have, Amara. You're…. not going to have access to your vault while you're away, are you?"
They let out a drawn out sigh, "Doesn't seem like it… if only I knew what to take. I'm going to miss all of my babies though…" Amaranthine splayed their hands out among the vault display.
"Hey, Amara,"
Amaranthine turned their head to meet Shaxx as he drew a sword from his back.
"Y'know… this served me well in the Red War."
"Th- the Raze-Lighter? Is that… that's the real thing?"
"That it is." Shaxx grinned, "But, it may deserve a new owner. Amaranthine, if you would?"
Shaxx held out the exotic sword with the intention of Amaranthine taking it. Their hand ran down the blade, until going a little bit past the hilt, and then wrapping their hand around the grip. Their second hand joined, and lifted it. Holding it in a ready position, a struggling Amaranthine was just a bit bigger than the entirety of the sword.
"You… really want me to take it?"
"Not just take it, dear Amara, Keep it. I trust it will serve you well. Defend yourself from the enemy!"
"I- I don't know what to say."
"Nothing, Amara, nothing at all. Just as I had cut down the Red Legion, you too shall be a slayer with it. Meet the enemies head on!" Shaxx acted as if he was imposing the greatest advice from a wise elder. Knowingly so, Shaxx handed Amaranthine a dark brown leather sheath with a strap that seems to be perfectly measured to their height, showing the pure and sole intention of passing it on specifically to them.
"I know we as Guardians love flaunting a blade out, but the sheath shall keep it handy and pristine. Maybe it'll be more accustomed to the world you're going to. Better to look at least a little less threatening." Shaxx nodded sagely, before getting punched in the shoulder by Amaranthine.
"Oh shut up, we all know you would never want to look less threatening."
Answering with a chuckle, Shaxx raised his hands up. "You got me there, Amara!"
They both laughed it off. Amaranthine made a few more decisions with Shaxx's help, but eventually, he, as all people need to, needed to return to his duties overseeing the Crucible. Amaranthine made a mental note to put on at least one last show there before her mission.
"But next… Ada should have my Kindled Orchid!" Amaranthine skipped to their next stop, the two-tapping Crucible legendary at the forefront of their mind.
Amaranthine collapsed onto their reclined seat in the cockpit of their jumpship, all done with preparation and thoroughly exhausted. A cup holder came out of the right armrest which currently housed their coffee. Taking a long sip, Amaranthine shut her eyes and exhaled, thankfully done with everything. As they were slowly drifting to sleep, one of their guild members called.
"Yes, yes Alyss you can pick it up." Amaranthine quickly downed the rest of the coffee and rubbed their eyes, trying to find any semblance of awake-ness that whoever was calling, they would definitely need.
Their ghost materialized in the air, "As you wish, Chief."
The call was answered with a resounding, two tone beep. "AMARANTHINE!"
Amaranthine jumped in their seat, startled. "Wh- what is it? Clark is that you?"
"Hell yeah it is, bestie! We heard all about your fancy new mission! How long are you gonna be gone? Is it true you're leaving us forever? What's going on, tell us, tell us!?" Clark rambled on, not allowing anyone or anything to interrupt his tangent.
"Woah woah- slow down Clark!" Amaranthine, now wide awake, frantically tried to catch up. "You're getting ahead of yourself!"
"Well, what we want to say is, we're going to miss you, Amaranthine."
"Well it's not like I'm leaving forever, I'll be back!" Amaranthine bit back a frown, "Just… I don't know how long, is all."
"Well then, that means that we can't sit around! We gotta do something before you leave!" Clark's excited rambling turned robotic and static-y through the ghost's speaker. Amaranthine could only imagine him bouncing off the walls of wherever he was calling from.
Amaranthine looked around their jumpship, and popped open a mini fridge they installed as one of the first things since the reception of it. A few energy drinks were stored there, nothing more. "Well, not like you're gonna accept no for an answer." Amaranthine threw an energy drink back and chugged it. They were going to need it for whatever Clark wanted to do.
Amaranthine listened along to what Clark explained. Apparently, his grand plan was to do a raid marathon, starting with the Leviathan, Emperor Calus's challenge to the Guardian where they slaughtered his men for his own entertainment, and ending with the Deep Stone Crypt, the origins of all Exos that Ana Bray and Rasputin finally located among the depths of Europa. Even Cayde-6 had mentioned it in his book, among an icy moon.
Still, while usually a fun time with the guild, Amaranthine was more inclined to turn the request down, but soon, it was obviously made known that it was not a request, rather, a demand.
"Oh, you've got to be serious…" Amaranthine mumbled off, then turned some dials on their dash before slamming a handle forward. "Yeah, yeah, on my way." They rolled their heterochromatic eyes, amaranthine and silver.
"Ikora, this is wildly irresponsible for you to just immediately… approve of this!" Zavala nearly yelled. Normally, Zavala and Ikora saw eye to eye, it was Cayde… or whoever they were going to bring in for the hunters next, that always caused some trouble amongst them.
"And I highly disagree, Zavala. This could be huge! Tons of new areas–uncharted areas– to explore. And besides, they are a responsible, young, and capable Guardian. It has nothing to do with them being my favorite, best, protégé. I am not biased, Zavala."
"We should've sent… A fireteam! Two! Three! Warlocks… you lot are all so eager for information… well I'll have you know that jumping the gun is far more dangerous than being ignorant for a few more weeks so we can properly prepare at least one fireteam. "
"It is not that hard to accept when a decision is out of your hands, Zavala. You have been a victim of that lesson many times. I promise you, they will be fine, they will report back, and finally…" The Vanguard's warlock folded her arms under her bust. "They. Will. Produce. Results."
"Well, I'm not so sure, Ikora. When I see Amaranthine. I too, see talent… unformed, unrefined talent. She-"
Ikora's eyes narrowed. She was never one to tolerate disrespect to her fellow Guardians, especially her students. "Zavala. They."
"Right…" Zavala resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and mentally scoffed, something he knew Ikora wouldn't know, something they shouldn't have been able to tell, but it seemed to only piss her off more.
"We're done talking, Zavala. There is nothing you can do to change this action. You will not try to brute force your way with this." Ikora rose to her feet and walked towards the exit of the H.E.L.M's war table room. "Have a good day." There was no lightheartedness, there was no care in her words. It sounded cold, with malice. She was ready to fight tooth and nail for her student, and Zavala respected her resolve, after all, a Guardian, much less a Titan, was nothing without it.
What Zavala couldn't fathom though, was what non-binary was.
Alyss floated around in her gemstone encrusted golden lined onyx shell. Amaranthine had earned it in the Menagerie, a Calus challenge for a fireteam of Guardians. When Amaranthine had earned it, they almost threw it out. She even had to beg Amaranthine for the shell, and now, she will barely ever take it off.
She flew around among the dashboards, doing last minute diagnostics and checks. It was her job after all, upkeep on the technical side of things. As much as Amaranthine was a smart, educated, scholarly warlock, they were reduced to two and a half brain cells when it came to managing and maintaining equipment and electronics. Alyss shook her head, well, body, and a blue light emitted over the next object.
Her Guardian was fast asleep on the purple leather chair in the cockpit. They collapsed there after the marathon they were forced into. Alyss couldn't blame their fireteam, deep down in her little AI heart, she was going to miss the eccentric quintet that she had grown to love.
Alyss began to transmat as much fuel as possible into the tankers on the ship. While they knew where they were going, they actually had no real way to measure the distance. As much fuel as possible, they suppose would be the safest. They put around four more gallons of fuel, any more than that and it would actually be detrimental. She lined the four up nicely, up against the opposite side of the ship from the stash of guns and armor Amaranthine decided to take. Alyss mentally cursed them out, putting that much more of a workload on her just to have more equipment that they probably won't end up using in the end anyway. She let out an audible sigh. It was times like this where she wished her Guardian was awake, arguing about it would certainly be more entertaining than just doing her job.
Alyss took another glance at the Guardian. Sound asleep, diagonally across the reclining chair, one leg over the armrest. While sloppy, it looked rather peaceful, the ghost was loath to admit. She'd just wish they took better care of themself, to at least have some manners and not look like they just came out after living on the streets. Well, some things never change, I presume.
She was beginning to get fed up with being alone for this time, especially since they should've taken off about ten hours ago. Amaranthine could've gotten them started along the way and then sleep, that's the point of autopilot after all. "And I can drive the damn thing too!" Alyss cursed out loud.
Out of all the sounds that have been occurring for the past twelve hours, it's Alyss' outburst that had Amaranthine wake. Alyss cursed again in her thoughts, watching her Guardian fail to right themself up, promptly sliding out of the chair and hitting their back against the metal floor of the ship.
"You can't seem to do much of anything right." The gilded ghost stated as if it was an observation; however, it was very obviously a jab at the social clutz of a Warlock.
"Yeah yeah fuck yourself too Alyss…" Amaranthine propped themself up by crossing their arms on the armrest of the chair.
They took a moment to defog their head, shaking the sleep off their brain. Closing their eyes to refocus on the area around them, they appeared blurry and then, just as a camera would, focused in and became clear. "Guess we better start on maintenance checks…"
"Already done, Chief." Alyss deadpanned. "Sometimes I can't believe I got paired up with a Guardian as dumb as you."
"Words hurt, y'know!" Amaranthine cried out. While accustomed to Alyss' way of showing her AI affection, Amaranthine couldn't help but say something.
Alyss gave a sweet giggle, soothing Amaranthine as they studied their ship. "You really got everything in order."
"Yup! All set, Chief!"
"Perfect! You know just how to help out your Guardian." Amaranthine was now delighted, their generally messy ship was all in order, even her notes and journals were in alphabetical order! "If I could smother you, I would!"
"I think I'd pass anyway…"
"Well you don't have to sound so disgusted by it! I'll have you know a lot of people lust for me!" They huffed, crossing their arms under their bust.
"Riiiiight…" The dashboard began to glow blue, signifying Alyss taking control over the systems. The different knobs and dials began to spin and move on its own. "Well the least you can do is drive now, dumbass."
Amaranthine pulled the chair up to the wheel, pulled the wheel towards them, and the ship lunged through space, leaving a white ripple trail. Alyss' signature blue light lit up the speakers around them, and soon, music. Who knew an AI ghost would like music?
Within a few minutes, they passed Europa, the same icy moon housing the Deep Stone Crypt. It being the last destination they will pass, it soon shot out of sight and all that they saw around them was the multitudes of stars around them. "Now, we're in the long haul. What's the estimated time, can you tell, Alyss?"
"No can do Chief. We will get there… when we get there."
Amaranthine exhaled in annoyance. This was going to be a long, boring time.
The books that Ikora had provided Amaranthine for her journey were interesting, certainly helpful, but also incredibly draining on her mind. They had managed to learn a new grenade in two hours though, an incredibly new record for Amaranthine; however, it was also the easiest one. The healing grenade was useful, no doubt about it, but if you just think about it like you were charging for a Well of Radiance, then it was definitely easy. At least, to Amaranthine it was.
"Hey Alyss?" The studying warlock peered out the window of the cockpit, then pointing with their left hand. "Why is that moon shattered?"
There it is! A pilot for my first story on here. The idea's been brewing for quite a while, and after writing this much, I thought eh, why the hell not? Let's try it on here! Later, this area will be used for review responses. No set schedule yet, and there might not ever be one, but I hope you guys will enjoy this as much as I!
Ciao