A/N: Once again, I want to clarify that this is before Crow has his name, which is why Liv refers to him as Uldren in her head


It was one of those nights when Liv couldn't sleep.

Most Hunters she knew had some form of insomnia, and she was no exception. Though in her case, worrying about the curse loop and having an Ahamkara in her head only made things worse. Over the centuries, she had developed many methods for staying busy when sleep evaded her. Yoga was a prominent one. So was practicing with her knives. Those things tended to be pretty universal. But unique locations also meant unique coping mechanisms.

Liv was currently tearing her way through the Blind Well. She found it oddly relaxing to fight off hordes of enemies without having to constantly think about some larger objective. That was what was good about the Well — the only goal was to charge it by killing lots of enemies. It was harder to fight her way through it alone, but part of her relished in the challenge.

She was endlessly comparing charging the Well to running Rasputin's Escalation Protocol on Mars. The similarities made her feel closer to Kai, who was most likely still on Mars unless she had been reassigned. Liv longed for an update from her clan, but she knew that messages were hell to get through to the Dreaming City.

Maybe sometime she should ask Petra to borrow one of the comm stations. They were the only reliable method for getting long-ranged signals through the Dreaming City's "bubble."

Liv slashed the final Abomination to shreds with her sword, breathing heavily. She was getting tired, though she would never admit it to Rhys. It felt like no matter how much she pushed herself physically, she couldn't get her mind to stay quiet long enough to actually sleep.

She plopped down on the rim of the Well's activator, letting her legs dangle over the side. She was thinking of going another round, but maybe this time she would choose a lower level.

"Are you finally done?" asked Rhys irritably, "You know, some Ghosts likegetting to sleep."

"If you want to sleep so bad, then why don't you go back to our quarters?" she suggested blithely.

"And leave you here by yourself? No way. What if you get killed?" he demanded.

Liv shrugged. "Then I'll stay dead until morning," she said nonchalantly, "...Might finally get some decent rest out of it."

"Ha-ha," retorted her Ghost.

She just grinned and hopped down from her seat, moving toward the activator. She held out her hand. "Charge, please."

Rhys sighed but transmatted a Charge of Light into her palm. "You're almost out of those things," he remarked, "That'll put a dent in your Well-running for sure."

She shrugged, popping the Charge into the Tier I activation slot. "I can get more." With how many missions she ran, it wasn't hard to stock up on Charges of Light, among other useful knickknacks.

As the Well began to power up once more, she checked over her weapons again, making sure that her guns were loaded up. Soon, the sounds of the Well were drowned out by the screeches of the Scorn.

"Back into the fire," said Liv with a grin, jogging off toward one of the outer rings.

Blind Well runs started small and worked their way up to more and more enemies with each rotation. Tier I was nowhere as difficult as Tier III, but there were still more than enough enemies to keep her focused on fighting instead of worrying about the curse or the Ahamkara in her head. No existential worries, just the act of trying to kill as many enemies as possible in as little time as she could.

She was so absorbed in the fight that it took her a bit longer than usual to realize that she was no longer alone in the Well chamber.

"You look like you could use some help."

Even if the sudden voice hadn't startled her, its owner would have. Her head snapped up to see none other than Uldren fucking Sov standing in the middle of the Well. Thrown off by the thought that he would even be there, let alone offering his help, she lost the rhythm of the fight, taking a bolt to the shoulder.

Hissing in pain, she turned to kill whatever Scorn had just shot her before turning back to face Uldren.

"I don't need your help," she said curtly. Just because she had decided not to kill him on sight didn't mean that she was going to be nice to him.

"Are you sure?" asked Glint over the comms, "That looked like it hurt."

"It wouldn't have happened if your Guardian hadn't distracted me," she said accusingly, "By the way, I hope you made this channel private. Unless you want other Guardians to accidentally tap in and hear him." She jerked her head in Uldren's direction.

"Oh, good idea," said Glint, "I'll do that."

Liv just rolled her eyes and continued fighting off the Scorn. She was pretty sure she was almost finished with her current section. Scooping up another Blessing of Light, she entered a Trance and cut through the swarm of Scorn in a crackle of lightning. Having taken notes from the new Void supers that a lot of Hunters were using, she now wielded two Arc Blades instead of one, and she was liking the change a lot.

Once the enemies had been charred into dust, she used the lull to head for the next section, gritting her teeth at the feeling of the Darkness that hung over the Well. Once she was inside the next protective bubble, she glanced back at Uldren, who — to her irritation — was still watching her from his place in the center.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"To help," he replied.

Liv sighed heavily. She got the feeling that as much as she willed him to, he wasn't going to leave her alone.

"Fine," she snapped, "You can help me by shooting them before they get to this plate."

"Should I come ov-"

"No." Her tone was blunt. "I've got it here. You can shoot from over there."

Part of her was expecting him to push the issue, but he just nodded and drew his gun.

The last few cycles went by much faster with the two of them. To her surprise, Uldren maintained the distance she'd set, remaining in the center while she rotated through the locations. The only time that arrangement changed was when the final wave and the Herald of the Plague came out, forcing Liv to go back into the center to deal with it. She spared one look at Uldren but concentrated most of her efforts on dealing with the massive Abomination.

Only once the Scorn were dead and the Well was silent did she finally address the question that had been on her mind ever since he'd shown up.

"Why are you here?" The words weren't overly friendly, and her tone wasn't much better, but she couldn't fathom what would bring Uldren into the Blind Well, especially so late at night.

Uldren looked up, having just holstered his gun. Liv hated how tall he was — he looked about the same height as Tristan. Being much shorter than average, she was always having to tilt her head back if she wanted to look other Guardians in the face, and it sucked. She stood evenly with her shoulders thrown back and stared him right in the eye.

He dropped his gaze. "I thought you could use some help," he said.

She fought back a groan at the unhelpful answer. "I mean what are you doing here? In the Blind Well. How the fuck did you even know I was here?"

"Glint told me."

She wished the Ghost was there so she could glare at him. "Come here often then?" she snarked.

"Not really," Uldren admitted, "I try to avoid the action… I've uh, learned it's not very fun to be recognized by Guardians."

Liv ignored the brief stab of sympathy elicited by his remark. She was not feeling sorry for him, dammit.

"You're here now," she pointed out.

"Night is the safest time for me to be here. I've noticed there aren't as many Guardians around at night."

"I'm around. Just 'cause there aren't as many doesn't mean they won't show up unexpectedly. Maybe you have a death wish."

"Maybe," he said, "...I have a reason for being here, though."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

It was a simple statement, yet Liv felt like she'd been punched in the gut. And also maybe like she wanted to punch Uldren in the gut. "Why the fuck would you want to do that?" She didn't bother trying to hide the incredulity in her voice.

He shrugged. "I don't know… You're the only Guardian I've talked to who hasn't killed me on sight."

Again, she felt that flash of sympathy and shoved it down. "Don't push your luck, buddy," she warned him, "That could change real easily."

"I know," he said, not appearing worried.

She wasn't sure what to think about that. She knew she wasn't going to kill him — she had already made that decision when she hadn't shot Glint — but there was no reason he should assume that. His new apparent nonchalance was making her want to challenge him to a Crucible match.

Then, she realized that while he had holstered his gun, she was still holding her sword. Uldren was so convinced she wouldn't try to kill him that he hadn't felt the need to keep his gun drawn even while she was armed. Honestly, she was slightly impressed by his confidence. But only slightly. The rest of her was annoyed that he had followed her out here only to apparently make casual conversation. Her feelings about Uldren's revival were already tangled up enough without him acting like they were buddies just because she hadn't killed him when she met him.

Liv sheathed her sword. "Look, I really don't know what you want out of this, but don't go thinking that we're friends, alright? I'm not your friend."

She couldn't really tell what Uldren thought about that. His expression didn't seem to change much, but she thought his shoulders might have slumped a bit. "I understand," he said.

"What about me?" asked Glint, "Can I be your friend?"

She fought back a smile at the irrepressible lightness in his voice. Maybe she had been annoyed that he'd told Uldren where she was, but she found it hard to stay mad at the Ghost.

"Sure," she conceded, "We can be friends."

"Woo!"

She debated calling it a night, but she still didn't feel tired enough to go to sleep yet. Nor did she particularly feel like running another Well either.

"So why else are you here?" she asked Uldren, "There has to be another reason besides wanting to talk to me."

He shrugged. "There isn't… I guess I just wanted to talk to someone. I don't really have anyone to talk to other than Glint, especially not other… Guardians."

She frowned, debating whether lying awake in her quarters was worth walking out right now. But in the end, her distaste for boredom won and she sat down on the raised platform of the Well with a sigh.

"Fine," she grumbled, "I guess I can talk… for a bit."

She pretended not to notice the relieved expression on Uldren's face as he sat down as well. Fortunately, instead of sitting right next to her, he left several feet between them.

"Thanks," he said.

"Hm," Liv grunted, "...So what do you want to talk about?" She had a few ideas about the types of questions he might ask and she wasn't looking forward to answering them.

"I guess I'll start simple," said Uldren, "What's your name?"

She blinked in surprise. That was decidedly not one of the questions she was expecting. "Liv Marko," she replied, "My Ghost's name is Rhys."

He nodded, taking in the information. "Ok… Nice to meet you, Liv."

She couldn't help but tense slightly when he said her name. Logically, she knew he was different from the Uldren that had killed Cayde, but it still felt like she had given her name to the Enemy. "Likewise, I guess," she gritted out.

"...What's my name?"

Liv almost laughed at the question, only stopping herself at the last second because she knew he wasn't being funny. He was genuinely asking. And that meant that he hadn't found out about any of his past yet. The only reason he suspected he'd done something bad was because other Guardians had punished him for it.

That realization was so depressing that it completely obliterated her urge to laugh. She knew she could tell him, but she wasn't sure that was the best idea. So instead, she went with the safest answer.

"I can't tell you," she said, "And I can't tell you anything about your past either, so don't ask me. Guardians are forbidden to learn about their past lives."

She had never given a fuck about that particular rule herself, but it was convenient in this instance. Uldren had gotten lucky enough to be granted a clean slate. Telling him about his past would just mess that up and probably cause more problems than it would solve.

"Oh." Uldren sounded disappointed. "...Well, what about being a Guardian? Will you tell me how it works?"

"Yeah, fine… I'm guessing you know the basics from your Ghost — the deathlessness, the amnesia… Technically, you're not a Guardian until you get sworn in. Once you're in, you're under the Vanguard's command. If you're not sworn in, then you're a Lightbearer."

"How do you get sworn in?" he asked curiously.

She sighed. "You have to go through training in the Tower. Sometimes. If you do enough on your own, you can get sworn in without completing the training."

"What is training like?"

Liv shrugged. "Dunno, never did it… I've been a Guardian since the City Age."

"The City Age? How long ago was that?"

"Uh, few centuries? I think. Never really kept track of the exact number… I've been around a while though."

"What about those abilities you have? How do they work?" There was a gleam of interest and excitement in Uldren's eyes.

"Well, there's different Light types. Most Guardians specialize in just one. Some can do two. A few can harness all three. Then, depending how you use the Light, you're either a Hunter, Warlock, or Titan. And don't ask me which one you would me. That's really not my area."

"I see…" Uldren sounded thoughtful. "It would be nice to find out — to be a real Guardian. Though I'm not sure your Vanguard would appreciate me showing up," he said ruefully.

Liv fought the urge to chuckle. "No, probably not… Want my advice?" He looked at her questioningly. "Lay low for a while. Wear a helmet and do your own thing… People can't hold grudges forever."

"Do you really believe that?" His gaze was penetrating.

She wasn't certain, but she tried to sound optimistic. "Sure."

Uldren shook his head, smiling wryly. "I appreciate the attempt," he told her. He rose to his feet. "I think I'll head back now and let you get some sleep… Sorry for showing up unannounced."

Liv got up as well. "It's fine," she said, "Just don't make a habit of it. I've got enough following me around without throwing in another tagalong." To her own surprise, the words were more lighthearted than her earlier tone.

"Copy that." He gave her a mock salute. "See you around, Liv Marko."

She watched him leave, shaking her head as he vanished through the doorway of the Blind Well. "He's gonna get himself killed again."

Rhys sighed. "Probably. From what he said, it sounds like he's used to it… Can I transmat us back to our quarters now?"

Liv nodded. "Yeah." She yawned. "I think that conversation took the rest of my energy out of me."

Her Ghost initiated transmat and the next time she blinked, she found herself standing in her room in the Dreaming City. Wasting no time, she hung up her cloak and began to strip off her armor. Her bed hadn't looked so welcoming in a while.

Rhys materialized and floated over to his pillow, settling onto it. "I have to say, I didn't think you were going to talk to him," he remarked.

"That makes two of us," she replied. She shook her head. "Honestly Rhys, I have no idea how I feel about the guy. I mean, part of me can't stop seeing that Uldren when I look at him. Cayde's murderer. The guy that Ace killed. But the other part of me sees a goddamn New Light."

"Mentor instincts," joked Rhys.

"Light no," said Liv, "I'm not his mentor. I'm not his friend or his babysitter. I'm just the bastard who was unlucky enough to run into him and not succumb to my 'shoot first' instincts. Which, in a way, makes this your fault. Killing him would have been easier."

"Would it have been?"

She paused in thought. The words had been said in jest, but her Ghost calling attention to them made her actually consider the statement.

"...No, it wouldn't have," she admitted, "Maybe it felt like it in the moment, but I think I would have regretted it afterward. Not immediately, but eventually."

"Good," said Rhys, "That means I raised a good Guardian."

Liv snorted. "'Raised'? Who are you, my dad? You didn't raise shit."

"Maybe I meant 'raised' as in 'raised from the dead', ever think about that?" her Ghost challenged, "It works both ways, anyway. I taught you right."

"You don't get all the credit for that. I didn't exactly have a shortage of role models in my early days."

"I suppose… But I'm proud of you all the same."


A/N: Sorry for the late upload! I completely forgot to upload it on Saturday and then I didn't have enough energy to do it on Sunday.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter all the same. There are only six more to go before the story wraps up.

See you next week!