Hello there everyone. This is my first time writing crossover fanfiction. It's certainly been a fun little experiment. Enjoy the story and leave feedback. Or don't, I can't make you.
Just in case, I own nothing save for the OC's I have created. All copyright belongs to Disney and Bungie.
Chapter 1: Escape to the Isles
There isn't much cover, Royal-6 thought. Nowhere to set up a good defense. He would have to make his final stand while being almost completely exposed. He grimaced. The Vex are coming for him and he has no defenses. Just him, his guns, his Light, and his Ghost, Lancer. The pair had been stuck in the Vex Domain for a long time now. Royal didn't know exactly how long, time becomes difficult when your enemy can rewrite its rules on a whim. His best guess was a few years. Lancer thinks they might have finally found a weak point, a way out. All the Exo had to do was stand guard while Lancer 'cut' it open. It was supposed to be simple, but the Vex wouldn't let anything be simple. Now they have a small army almost right on top of them. An army that was being led by a Vex Mind that was created specifically to kill him. All in all, not the worst odds he'd faced in this digital hell, though it was a rather close competition.
"Lancer," he called over their comm unit, "How much longer do you think this will take?"
"Shouldn't be too much longer, a few minutes at most. But there's something about this spot, something weird about it. I can feel Darkness emanating from this place, but it isn't like anything we've seen before." Lancer responded with his usual mechanical chirps accentuating his statement. Royal grimaced again, looking across the field of physical data. The Vex were getting closer.
"Well, it's a little too late to change course now," he said, "I don't care if it drops us out on Io, Jupiter, or in the heart of the Moon. Just so long as we get out of here."
Lancer sent a confirmation signal as he continued his work. Lancer pulled his scout rifle off his back, checking the scope to make sure it was properly calibrated. The Vex horde was almost in firing range now. Legions of Goblins marching in perfect unison with Minotaurs being spread throughout their ranks. Countless Harpies flew overhead, circling the larger Hydras as they projected their impenetrable shields. Finally, the newest toys of the Vex marched in the front. Wyverns, massive bipedal machines, the first Vex forms built specifically for combat. Behind the massive army floated a colossal Vex Mind, the apex of Vex existence. Royal had clashed with this being once before, only narrowly escaping. It was designed specifically to hunt him. To kill him. Its name was Synegorus, Paradoxical Mind. And it had Royal cornered.
The army came to a halt all at once. Unblinking red eyes stared at him with hatred. Of all the enemies that Mankind faced, Royal viewed the Vex as the most dangerous. Their raw destructive power threatened not only his reality but theoretically all others. Royal drifted his rifle across the army, not aiming at one Vex in particular. He had learned to be generous with his rounds. The Vex hadn't made a move yet. No doubt their Mind was calculating all possible outcomes. They always did this, and it was something Royal had learned to exploit. Often, using the simplest plan possible would work. Of course, Royal had to mix things up now and then to avoid becoming predictable.
The Vex finally finished their calculations, beginning to advance once more with the sole intent of killing him permanently. The Vex opened fire and Royal responded in kind. Bolts of destructive potential roared past him as Royal ducked between the marginal cover offered by his current surroundings. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, there were just too many of these infernal machines. Pulling out his shotgun, Royal waited for one of the Minotaurs to charge in close. He didn't have to wait long, for all their intelligence the Vex were still machines. Which meant they could be predicted. Royal ducked under its jab and planted his shotgun right in the center of its chest. He squeezed the trigger, felt the comfortable and familiar recoil, and saw the Vex collapse. He quickly lept into the air, narrowly dodging an explosive shot from one of the Hydras. Channeling his Light through his legs, he floated over the encroaching force. With a thrust of one hand, he sent a spiral of pure solar energy toward one of the Wyverns. A quick flick of his other hand flung a condensed ball of solar light directly into a group of Goblins, melting them into nothingness. As soon as he touched down, a Wyvern slammed into the ground near him, flinging him onto his back. Lancer opened up the comms again, though it was difficult to hear him through his ringing ears.
"I've almost got it open, how close are the Vex?"
"A little too close for comfort," Royal groaned, rolling to avoid another blast from the Wyvern, "Just please hurry up."
"Don't you try and rush me," Lancer responded, "Remember Royal, patience is a virtue. "Royal lept to his feet, his pain being diminished by his Light.
"We don't have the luxury of patience!" Royal shouted back, channeling all his Light through him, feeling its familiar warmth in his bones. Focusing it into his hand, he willed it to take shape. A massive blade made of pure starlight and fire formed in his hand. He swung it in a wide arc, casting waves of burning power into the Vex lines. He dashed through the air, raining solar fury in every direction. The Vex continued to press around him on all sides. Their shots mounted up, the damage they dealt wearing him down. Feeling his light begin to wane, he dashed once more, putting distance between himself and the Vex. They chased after him, always right on his heels. He wouldn't be able to hold up against this for much longer at this rate.
Dropping to the ground, he pulled his rocket launcher out of transmat and aimed it at the tide of metal bearing down on him. He fired and a plume of smoke erupted from each end as a rocket soared straight into the heart of the Vex swarm. The rocket exploded on contact, releasing a massive shockwave that destroyed dozens of the minor Vex forms and left some of the larger ones staggered.
"I got it. I GOT IT! Our exit's open but it sure as hell ain't gonna stay that way! And we don't want to be here when it collapses, trust me."
Behind Royal, a vortex opened in the ground. Swirling masses of data spiraled around in patterns of organized chaos. He glanced at it, before looking back at the Vex army.
"This has been fun but I think I've overstayed my welcome. I'll be taking my leave now."
Synegorus seemed to hear him, screeching loudly as it ordered its Vex to kill him. Royal lunged for the portal as the Vex bore down on him. Aiding his jump with a quick burst of Light, he cleared the edge of the gap and fell through with the Vex right on his heels. They shot at him even as they all fell through the endless nothingness. Fortunately for Royal, the vortex began to close, spinning faster and faster, destroying most of the Vex caught near the entrance. Eventually, the abyss ceased to be and Royal found himself falling through a darkened sky over a large island. Multiple Goblins and Harpies trailed behind him. Royal simply channeled his Light, slowing his descent to a glide. The bipedal Vex fell past, firing wildly and without any concern for their current predicament. The Harpies, being flying constructs, slowed down to meet him. Royal dashed towards one of them, slamming a burning fist into its glowing optic as the rest of the Vex fired their lasers into him. His shields finally gave out, shattering and allowing the lasers to score deep wounds into his body. Royal grunted in pain as his body plummeted. The ground was getting closer every second, a little too quickly to be comfortable.
"Lancer! Bring out my sparrow!" He shouted, barely audible over the howling air racing past him. Despite that, he knew Lancer heard him.
A vehicle materialized beneath him and he comfortably slipped into its seat. Angling it upwards, he activated its thrusters to try and slow his descent. Not wanting to let him go so easily, the Harpies continued to fire at him. Royal pulled out his scout rifle with one hand and struggled to line up a shot on the constructs. Unfortunately, one of the lasers scored a direct hit on his sparrows' engines. The vehicle exploded, flinging Royal away from the Harpies and directly onto a collision course with a mountain. Royal stared at the ground as it grew closer. Closing his eyes, he sighed.
"This is gonna suck."
Royal slammed into the ground, tearing through the dirt before colliding with a large rock. He burst through it and continued to fall. Boulders and trees shattered before his unstoppable momentum. Eventually, he worked his way down the mountain, leaving a massive path of destruction in his wake. Royals body and armor had been torn to pieces. He lay there, still, definitely dead. After a moment, Lancer materialized over his corpse. After observing it for a moment, he shot out a beam of light over the Guardians' body. Royals corpse disintegrated before reappearing a few feet away. He dropped to the ground, slightly shaking under his weight. Royal steadied himself before drawing to his full height. Lancer floated lazily in front of him.
"I give you a seven on the escape, but a two on the landing." Royal raised an eyebrow in response.
"Really now? I thought that escape was at least an eight."
They both chuckled at that. It felt good to finally be out of that accursed hell.
"Before you ask," Lancer spoke up, "No, I don't know where we are. I'm still analyzing the area, but it doesn't match any records of Sol. I even cross-mapped all our star charts. None of them match the ones overhead. Wherever we are, it's not on any of our maps."
"So we finally manage to escape the Vex Domain, but we're stuck at the ass-end of nowhere? Typical," Royal groaned.
"Yeah, just our luck," Lancer replied, "Those Harpies will likely have calculated the path of our fall."
As if on cue, the pair heard a series of mechanical chirps. The Harpies were following the path Royal had carved. Royal pulled out his rifle and aimed in the direction of the sound. The second the Vex came into view, he fired, knocking them out of the air. The Harpies dropped to the ground, most of them exploding into pieces. Reaching back, he slammed his palm into the final construct, bathing it in solar Light. Royal watched as it disintegrated.
"Alright, if you're done playing with the murderous robots then it's time for us to leave," Lancer remarked. Royal nodded, looking upwards as he began to sprint into the forest.
"You think the Traveler is still out there, watching over us?" He questioned.
"I don't know," Lancer responded despondently, "I can feel the Light, but it feels distant. Like it's all the way across the Universe."
Royal summoned forth his solar light, coating his hands in flame. Yet it felt different somehow, not weaker per se, but strained. Like he was trying to force an ocean through a narrow canyon.
"We can worry about that later. For now, we need to find where those Goblins landed and figure out how to get out of here."
"You know," Lancer began, "That second thing would be a lot easier if someone hadn't crashed the jumpship."
"Hey! That pillar came out of nowhere and you know it."
"Whatever you need to tell yourself mate."
As the two disappeared into the forest, they failed to notice one of the Harpys' optical lenses flickering.
Edas' weekend had been quite busy. She had picked up a Human stray, broken into the Conformatorium with her, found out the Warden had a crush on her, and had taken on the Human as her apprentice. Now she was standing behind the Owl House, inspecting a heap of smoking metal junk that had crashed into the ground in the dead of night. For some strange reason, the junk appeared to be leaking white liquid. She watched as some of the foreign liquid fell from its shattered container and splash to the ground. The reaction was instant and very odd. Eda didn't know why, but she didn't want to see what that would do to her flesh. She sighed, there would be time to clean up tomorrow. For now, she needed to sleep. She had an odd feeling that life was about to get a lot more interesting.
The castle was always busy. Running an empire was a complicated, messy business. There were laws that needed to be enforced, tithes that must be collected, and WIld Witches that had to be captured. All these tasks need to be coordinated by the Emperors' Coven, and the Coven was coordinated by its head. Most witches would break under the pressure of their position. Lilith Clawthorne was not most witches. She had seen the worst and the weirdest the Boiling Isle's could offer in her time of service. At least she thought she had.
Locals had reported a large disturbance out the outskirts of Bonesborough. Coven scouts had confirmed. Now she was investigating the source. What she had found was a massive trench that had been dug in the ground from the mountain. Trees had been uprooted and boulders had been shattered. Lilith crouched down over a shattered piece of pale-golden metal. Even after turning it over a few times, she didn't know what to make of it.
"Ma'am, we found something over here."
She looked up, seeing one of her Lieutenants, a Witch named Steve, signaling her. He wouldn't be distracting her from her musings unless he felt it was critically important.
"What is it?" She asked. Steve gestured to two of his fellow Coven members who had uncovered something large. It was a strange construct, made of the same metal she had been mulling over earlier. It had three main parts, each closing around the main chunk with a single lens for an eye. The creature's lense burned with violent red light. If Lilith didn't know any better she would say it almost seemed hateful, violent, even malicious. The eye began to flicker rapidly before shutting off.
"It's been doing that for a while now," Steve spoke up, "We haven't been able to figure out what it is or what it wants. We don't even know if it's alive." Lilith nodded.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," she said, offering him a small pat on the shoulder before turning to address the rest of her squad, "Gather up as much as you can, we will be bringing it all in for study."
She was not bringing this back to the castle, there were too many risks involved in that. Fortunately, the Emperor's Coven maintained a series of offshore sites all over the Titan for special cases.
She looked back down at the construct as its eye lit up again. A dark part of her mind could swear that it was staring at her with its baleful crimson gaze. A shiver went down her spine. It was a stare that would haunt her for a long time.
The sun rose over the horizon, bathing the world in its warmth. Royal took a second to appreciate how it basked over his artificial nerves. The previous night had been productive, though not in a good way. Lancer had checked for any signals from the Tower, only to come up empty. Further scans had revealed nothing. There were no Hive ships, no Cabal bases, not even a stray Fallen transport. Wherever they were, it was completely unfamiliar.
Lancer had also run a local scan to try and find any radio signals from any pre-existing settlements. He had found something, but it was completely unfamiliar to him. He had no way to tap into it, but it did confirm that there was life on this planet. Lancer had been bouncing around theories all night and even into the morning; that they were in a far-flung corner of the Universe, that had been sent forward in time to a reality where the Darkness had been vanquished, that they were in another parallel reality similar but different to their own. Royal had been forced to listen to Lancers rambling for hours. While he did care deeply for his friend, he was about to put his fist through the nearest tree if he didn't stop talking.
The duo was interrupted by the sound of talking originating from somewhere nearby. Creeping through the trees, Royal saw a large house in the middle of a clearing. Well, he supposed it was technically a house, looked like a rejected modern art project to him. He must've been behind it, as the voices were coming from the other side. What caught his attention was all the Goblin corpses piled up. He pulled out his scout rifle and peered through the scope.
"Now to see what the deal with all this junk is."
Royal heard a voice coming from around the side of the house and quickly ducked behind some bushes. Not for the first time, he cursed his decision of bright purple armor, he might find it visually pleasing but it wasn't conducive to good stealth. A figure came around the side of the house. They, or rather she, was tall, slim, and had an impressive amount of grey hair. She wore a long red dress that appeared torn near her legs, likely to allow for more mobility. The woman crossed her arms as she stared at the dismembered Vex. She appeared to be muttering something to herself, but Royal couldn't quite make it out. His finger curled around the trigger, ready to fire in case anything went wrong.
"Alright," he muttered, "Don't do anything stupid now lady."
The lady raised her hand, a single finger outstretched, and traced a circle through the air. Much to Royals' shock, a golden circle formed in her fingers' wake. A single Vex component levitated into the air, being encased in a similar golden light. Royal watched in equal parts awe and incredulity as the lady inspected it briefly. Unimpressed, she tossed it aside with a flick of her wrist before lifting another one. Royal ducked back behind his cover as the lady continued inspecting the Vex.
"Lancer," he began slowly, "are you seeing this?" His Ghost materialized beside him.
"It's rather hard not to," he replied.
"Is she Paracausal?" Royal asked. If she did have Paracausal abilities, then that would explain how she was seemingly able to ignore physics. It would've put her on a similar field to Royal and other Guardians.
"No, I don't think so. The readings don't match up with you, nor are they similar to what the Darkness can do."
"Well, that is a relief."
"That doesn't mean she isn't still a potential threat," Lancer continued, mildly irked about being interrupted, "Whatever she is, she's still quite powerful."
"Well, that is a not relief."
"So, how do you want to play this?"
Royal took some time to consider his options. He needed to get the Vex parts out of here so they could be safely destroyed. The last thing he wanted was some creature getting infected by the Radiolarian fluid. While he didn't want to kill some random lady, especially since he was in uncharted waters, he wouldn't hesitate if he thought it was necessary. He slowly crept toward the house, moving as stealthily as he could. He didn't make it very far before he felt a tremor in the ground. He instantly came to a half, raising his rifle to his eye. His gaze swept the area, but he couldn't see anything.
"Lancer, what the hell was-"
He was cut off when the ground burst open beneath him, sending his rifle flying out of his grasp. Royal looked up to see some kind of massive cylindrical snake erupting from the earth. It curled, looking down at him, revealing its face. Royal blinked, was that supposed to be an Owl?
"Oh boy," it spoke, its horridly high-pitched voice grating Royals' audio receptors, "I found some new friends!"
It dove at him with impressive speed. Royal managed to roll out of the way, coating his hands in solar power as he struck a combat stance. Before he could strike, a powerful burst of energy struck him in the back. He recoiled, spinning with the blow to face his new attacker. The lady from before stood before him, staff clutched in one hand and with the other outstretched, no doubt ready to draw another circle of golden energy. The owl-snake thing curled back around behind him, ready to attack him again. The lady held up her hand, signaling the bird tune to stop, before looking him up and down.
"Nice dress you got there, does it come in red?" She asked, smirking.
Royal glanced down at his robes, his pride mildly stung. He was about to snap back when he noticed something. The lady had pale white skin, eyes of molten gold, and ears shaped like knives. Whatever she was, it wasn't Human, Exo, or Awoken. Killing his external speakers, he spoke over his private comm unit so that only Lancer could hear him.
"This place is seriously twisted."
Eda watched as her new apprentice set off to go on her first mission, selling her homebrew potions. Turning around, she started walking around the Owl House to where all the metal scrap was waiting for her.
"Now to see what the deal with all this scrap is."
She came around to where she had piled it all up. The metal was bent and damaged, which made sense considering that it had fallen from the sky. Luz didn't recognize it, so that left Eda with no idea what it might be.
"Let's see if there's anything worth selling," she muttered. Drawing a small spell circle, she levitated a small chunk of metal up to eye level. It was a large fan-like shape with a small, dull red circle.
"Junk."
With a dismissive flick, she tossed it aside. Lifting another piece, she inspected it as well.
"Trash. Garbage. Useless."
She continued sorting through the metal until a piece managed to capture her attention. It was a canister filled with the strange white liquid. A quick inspection revealed that it was surprisingly intact. Maybe she would be able to use this as a potion ingredient. Suddenly, a loud noise stole her attention. Looking up, she saw Hooty attacking something. Considering the mental state of her house demon, it could either be an intruder or a curiously-shaped leaf. Sighing, she decided to check it out, just in case. Besides, there was a good chance it was Lilith trying to capture her again. In which case Eda needed to be there to gloat.
Summoning Owlbert, she crammed the piece she was holding in her hair and quickly made her way over to the disturbance. Upon arriving, she was surprised to see a tall figure clad in a rather fancy purple dress with matching armor. The stranger had their fist engulfed in flame, ready to strike Hooty. Acting quickly, Eda quickly fired at them with a blast of magic. It impacted them right in the back, causing them to stumble. Rolling with the impact, they spun around, aiming their fiery fists at her.
"Nice dress you got there, does it come in red?" She snarked, half-joking and half genuinely curious. It was a nice dress after all, though all the armor on it was a bit weird
Eda stared at the intruder as they glanced down at their dress. It looked back up at her, its triangular eye/visor filled with swirling smoke. Four glowing orange lights framed its "face". They continued to stare at each other, completely silent.
Eda cocked an eyebrow. This staring contest was getting old and she wanted to wrap up here before Luz and King got back.
"Hello?" Eda questioned slowly, "Anyone alive in there?"
The stranger finally spoke, their voice was deep and had a mechanical edge to it.
"Alright, I just want the Vex tech so it can be properly disposed of. Just let me by and I won't have to hurt anyone."
Eda grinned at that. It was clear that this guy wanted the weird metal junk, which meant it must be worth some serious snails.
"Well if you want it, I'm sure we'd be able to negotiate a price."
Eda watched in confusion as the stranger pulled a small contraption out of thin air without the use of any kind of magic circle. He aimed it at her, pulling a lever on the back with their thumb.
"No, alien. We can't."
He squeezed the device with his finger, pulling a trigger, and the weapon made a loud bang. Eda jumped aside, narrowly avoiding whatever had been fired at her. As she did, Hooty lunged toward him. However, the stranger lept into the air, floating above the two. As they did, they pulled out a tube about the size of their forearm. He aimed it and fired, launching something toward the Owl House.
Looking back, Eda saw it impact the pile of 'Vex tech' as the stranger had named it. She stared, slack-jawed, as it exploded in purple fire. The bits that weren't burned simply disintegrated into blue light. The stranger touched down on the ground as Eda turned around angrily.
"Still feel like negotiating?" He asked in an even tone.
"Hey," Eda shouted, "I was gonna make some serious coin off that!"
"You have no idea what you were tampering with. Stay out of this and let me do my job alien."
That was the second time he had called her that. She didn't know what it meant but she was smart enough to know when someone was insulting her. She raised Owlbert, ready to blast the intruder into pieces. Rather than raise his weapon, he lept back into the forest and began sprinting through the trees. Cursing, Eda gave chase after ordering Hooty to stay with the Owl House.
Eda chased the stranger through the trees. Unfortunately, she was losing ground. He kept flying through the air, rapidly changing course at a moment's notice. As she finally came upon the edge of the forest, she saw him hopping onto some kind of mount she had never seen before. It floated above the ground with the front of it being made of a prism of light. It roared before a burst of flame came out of the back and sped away. Eda considered using Owlbert to give chase but realized she wouldn't be able to catch up. Groaning, she turned back toward the Owl House. This day hadn't turned out at all as she expected it and now she had another mess to clean up.
Deep within a facility belonging to the Emperor's coven, the Vex Harpy woke from its slumber once more.
-]Assess situation[-
…
…
…
-]Cannot establish a connection with Paradoxical Mind[-
-]Area unfamiliar[-
-]Systems damaged[-
-]Multiple unknown entities detected[-
-]Primary directive[-
=Assimilate universe=
=Expand influence=
=Align all things to the grand pattern=
\Subnote: Eliminate that which can not be aligned
-]Secondary objective[-
=Eliminate intruder=
\Subnote: Intruder is {One who wields that which we cannot simulate}, commonly known as a Guardian
As it attempted to reach out, it felt an overwhelming presence wash over it. Synegorus was latching on to it, like lighting a beacon through different realities.
-]Signal acquired[-
-]Establishing connection[-
…
…
-]Connection established with Paradoxical Mind[-
-]Acquiring instructions[-
…
…
…
-]Instructions received[-
-]Tertiary directive[-
=Comply with captors=
=Assimilate technology=
=Wait for the Paradoxical Mind to open the door=
The Harpy continued to stare into the darkness of its surroundings. It could feel the hatred of Synegorus rippling through it. It felt how the Mind loathed the Guardian, how it loathed all things that were not Vex. The Harpy could not feel hatred, it was a simple Vex form, meant for construction. Synegorus had used it as a puppet to peer into this new reality. It had projected its loathing gaze through the eye of the Harpy.
-]Theoretical: Guardian has caused extensive damage to Vex Network and Collective[-
-]Practical: Guardian is a highly dangerous foe and requires immediate elimination[-
The Harpy could not feel hatred, but perhaps it could begin to understand the feeling.
And that was the first chapter. This story won't cover every single episode of the show, only the ones that I think I can add to. I already have the first few chapters completed, but I intend to hold them for a bit so I can gather feedback.
Again, if you have feedback feel free to share it.
