Once they were back in the Dreaming City, Liv realized that she now had a whole new problem concerning Janus.
"Dude, other people are gonna be able to see you now," she complained, "How are we supposed to get shit done if random Guardians keep rolling up to try and kill you?"
"I've already thought of a solution," said Janus, "I can simply put one of my kind's natural abilities to use…"
And with that, their shape rippled and suddenly there was another Guardian standing in front of Liv.
At first glance, they appeared to resemble any other Awoken, with lavender skin, white hair, and glowing turquoise eyes. But a closer look revealed tiny patches of scales scattered across their cheekbones. Their eyes held snakelike pupils, and when they smiled, their canine teeth were just slightly too long and sharp to be normal.
"Huh… well, that's one way to do it," she remarked.
Uldren was staring at the Ahamkara in shock.
Noticing his surprise, Janus smiled and flicked a forked tongue at him. "They didn't call us shapechangers for nothing."
Their shape rippled again and then there was a copy of Uldren, accurate down to the most minor details. Only Janus' eyes remained the same bright turquoise, probably for effect.
Uldren gaped.
"Stop messing with him," scolded Liv.
Janus winked at Uldren before shifting back to their Guardian form. "It's relatively easy to appear as one of your kind," said the Ahamkara, "I don't believe we'll have any problems."
"Yeah, unless you accidentally shift in front of another Guardian."
"Please," sniffed Janus, "I think I know how to keep my own secret… And it's not as if I'm in a rush to die again. I doubt the Techeuns will be so kind as to revive me a second time."
"No, probably not," Liv agreed.
She slumped in her chair with a sigh. They were currently all inside her quarters in the Dreaming City. She was glad that she didn't have a roommate. It would be kind of awkward to have to explain the presence of an Ahamkara and Uldren Sov.
Uldren shifted in his own chair and glanced toward the balcony. He had changed back into his own clothes, which, while more recognizable than the armor he'd been wearing, were also — in his own words — more comfortable.
Glint and Rhys were both out of phase, hovering near their respective Guardians.
Liv knew that she and Uldren needed to talk, but she wasn't sure how to start the conversation.
After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Janus shifted back to their reptilian form and curled up on Liv's bed, grumbling that no one had bothered to get them a chair. The Ahamkara's new form wasn't as large as the bones in the Ascendant Realm had suggested, so she assumed that Janus had lost a good deal of power when they had died. Still, the Ahamkara was large enough that they took up her entire bed, which was full size. If Janus was going to continue staying with her, they were going to have to have a conversation about sleeping arrangements.
For now, she ignored the Ahamkara, turning back to Uldren.
He seemed pensive as he looked out at the city below. She didn't need to have a neural bond with him to pick up on the waves of uncertainty that were rolling off of him. Uldren was different from most young Lightbearers in many ways, yet that confusion — that search for a purpose — was something that Liv had seen many times over the centuries. It wasn't likely to go away anytime soon.
She was fully aware that Uldren was going to have a harder time than most Guardians. Hell, he already had, given some of the comments he'd made regarding his encounters with other Guardians.
In theory, the idea that Guardians were different — that they were new people than they'd been when they died — was a simple one. In practice, it was much less cut and dry. Other Guardians would see Uldren and be unable to separate him from the man he used to be. Liv herself almost hadn't been able to, and she knew there were scores of Guardians out there who had loved Cayde just as much as she had. Ones that loved him even more.
When it came down to it, how many of them would be able to fight that "kill on sight" reaction when faced with the man that had killed him? She was willing to bet not many.
But the fact remained that there was no easy way to break the news of Uldren's revival. It would be a bombshell to the Guardians — to the Vanguard. It even had the potential to start a full-on war between Guardians.
Emotions following Cayde's death had been high. They still were high, despite Harley avenging him.
Liv could never be at peace with Harley's death, but the thought that he wouldn't have to face the reincarnation of the man he had killed was some comfort to her. The system wasn't ready for Uldren to be alive again. She concluded that the best — the only way to deal with that problem was time. Give it long enough, the rage would peter out. Guardians might still react with anger, but not the all-encompassing fury that drove them to mindlessly kill.
Eventually, she sighed and broke the silence. "...I think we need to talk," she told Uldren.
He nodded, looking relieved that she had been the one to initiate the conversation. "...This is about me leaving the Dreaming City, isn't it?" he guessed.
"Were you planning to?" She hoped he was. That would be way less awkward than her telling him to leave.
He nodded. "Yeah… I was. I am, I mean… I've been thinking about what you said and you're right. Too many people can recognize me here…" His gaze settled on her. "You knew me. From before… You knew who I was."
She shrugged. "Eh, knew is kind of a stretch… I didn't know you personally. But I did know who you were."
"But you can't tell me." His tone was glum.
She shook her head. "No, I can't… I'm sorry." She wasn't exactly sure why she was apologizing, but she felt like she should.
He shot her a wry smile. "Because we're forbidden to learn about our pasts, right?"
"Yeah… Right."
But that was really only part of it. To put it plainly, Liv didn't think Uldren would react well to learning what his past self had done. Nor should he have to go through life with that hanging over him. Not if the Traveler had given him a second chance.
His words were halting. "Can you at least tell me… was it bad? What I did?"
Liv grimaced. As much as her instincts were telling her to sugarcoat it for his sake, she felt like he deserved to know the truth about this, at least. He probably already suspected it anyway.
"Yeah," she told him, "...It was bad."
His shoulders slumped, but he nodded. "I figured."
"But listen," she said forcefully, "Just because you did something bad in a past life doesn't mean it has to carry over to this one. I mean, there are probably hundreds of Guardians who did bad things in their past lives. Hell, there are Guardians who do bad things in this life… It's worse for you because your past life was recent enough for people to remember it. But it won't be like that forever."
"How do you know?"
"With enough time, the memory will fade and the anger will subside… You just have to be careful until then. Play it safe. Got it?"
Uldren nodded. "Yeah… What about my name? Can you tell me that?"
Liv shook her head. "Sorry, but no… This is your chance at a new beginning and I'm not about to screw that up for you. Once you learn one thing about your past, that one thing can easily lead to another… I'm sure Glint would agree with me."
"I do!" said Glint. He turned to Uldren. "It doesn't matter what your name was in a past life. This is your chance to pick a new one and decide who you'll be in this life."
"...Have you thought about where you're going to go?" asked Liv.
Uldren shrugged. "I'm not sure. All I know is that I'd like to see more of the system."
She hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I might be able to call in some favors and get you a ship… Can't guarantee it'll be anything flashy though."
His eyes lit up. "Really? You can do that?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Thank you!" Suddenly, his eyes flicked away from her, as though he was embarrassed. "...Would you, um… Would you be interested in coming with me?" Her eyebrows shot up and he rushed to explain himself. "I just mean it- I think it could be nice to have someone watching my back, is all."
"Oh." Liv winced. "Sorry, I can't…"
He quickly backtracked. "Oh, that's ok. I completely understand. I figured- I mean, you're probably on a mission for your Vanguard."
"...It's nothing against you personally," she explained, "I just promised I'd help Petra with things here. Figure out the curse, y'know… Besides, I have to watch Janus. I don't think the Techeuns would be too happy if I took them out of the city."
Uldren nodded. "That makes complete sense. Sorry again."
She chuckled. "It's fine, dude… You'll find your own fireteam at some point. Don't sweat it."
He sighed. "I hope so… Do you have a fireteam?"
She nodded, a soft smile creeping onto her face. "Yeah… I'm the leader of Fireteam Calypso. I run with a Titan named Kai and a Warlock named Tristan." She paused. "...I know it can seem like a lonely job, especially when you're just starting out, but it doesn't have to stay that way… I'm also part of a clan called The Chasers. I haven't been with them very long in the grand scheme, but they're like family to me."
"That sounds nice," said Uldren wistfully, "...Do you miss them?"
"Yeah. I miss them a lot sometimes... But I know whenever I leave on missions that they'll still be there when I come back."
Even as the words left her mouth, Liv cringed inwardly. Not all of them would be there.
"How long have you been a Guardian?" he asked curiously.
She snorted. "Prying, much?"
In reality, she was thankful for the distraction. Thinking about her clan when she knew she wouldn't see or hear from them until she left the Dreaming City was a bittersweet kind of pain.
"I was revived in the early City Age after the Last Safe City on Earth was founded… I've probably been around for a few centuries now, give or take… I stopped keeping track a while ago."
Uldren looked astonished. "Wow… I can't imagine living that long."
Liv laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll get there someday, New Light."
"That's optimistic of you," he muttered.
"Don't underestimate the power of positive thinking," she told him.
Uldren chuckled, standing up. "We should probably get going," he said, glancing at Glint, "I don't have much to my name right now… well actually, I don't even have a name to my name, but I should probably get together what I do have so Glint and I can get out of here sooner rather than later."
"Good idea," said Liv, also rising to her feet, "I'll see about that ship tonight… Hopefully, it can get here by tomorrow morning. Should I send it by the gazebo where I first ran into you?"
He nodded. "Yes, that should work… Thanks again."
She waved him off. "It's no problem… Lemme give you my comm frequency too. It won't work once you leave the city — comm signals don't penetrate pocket dimensions too well — but I'll be back on the radar once this curse is dealt with. Or once the Vanguard assign me somewhere else… Whichever comes first."
She wasn't likely to get reassigned, given that it would require the Vanguard to get a message into the Dreaming City, but they could always send another Guardian to tell her if they really wanted her elsewhere. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. Liv was determined to see the Dreaming City's curse through to the end. Still, she figured Uldren could use a friendly contact, especially since he wasn't likely to encounter many others in the system right now.
"Thank you," he said gratefully, "...And thanks for putting up with me despite whatever it was I did in the past."
"Water under the bridge," she said easily. She wasn't completely sure if she meant it yet, but she was trying to mean it. She stuck out a hand. "Take care of yourself."
Uldren shook it. "I'll try my best… Good luck breaking the curse."
Liv chuckled. "I'll try my best on that too." She walked him to the door. "Remember to wear your helmet on the way back. It would suck for you to get in trouble before you can leave the city."
"Copy that." He gave her a two-fingered salute.
"Goodbye!" called Glint, "Thank you for helping my Guardian!"
She grinned at the pink-shelled Ghost. "Anything for my friend."
"Goodbye!" said Rhys, "And good luck!"
With one last wave, Uldren and Glint stepped out into the hallway. Liv's last glimpse of them before they rounded the corner was Uldren fastening the helmet on his head as Glint vanished into phase. She remained in her doorway for a few more seconds before retreating inside and closing the door.
"...What a long day," she sighed, returning to the chair she'd been sitting in.
"It was," Rhys agreed.
"Honestly, it's been a long few weeks with all the Janus and Uldren stuff going on," she continued, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I missed the regular curse stuff."
"Well you won't have to miss it for long," said her Ghost, "The curse resets tonight, remember? We start again from the top tomorrow."
Liv groaned. "Don't remind me." But the words were playful. "...Jokes aside, I really think we have a shot at fixing this thing."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah. We've just gotta keep collecting data. And now we'll have an Ahamkara helping us."
"But you're ok with it?" he asked, "Going through more loops?"
Liv smiled. "Yeah, Rhys, I am… I told you, I'll run as many loops as it takes. We'll crack this thing sooner or later. Just you wait."
A/N: We've arrived at the last chapter! Liv and Janus are staying in the Dreaming City to work on the curse (for now) and Crow is going his own way.
Once again, this story is set post-Forsaken - Season of the Forge era. The next one will have a setting that's a bit vaguer, just generally pre-Shadowkeep. I can't give an exact timeline on when that one will come out, but I'm already a good several chapters into the first draft.
If you want to be notified when the next story comes out, follow the Chasing Fate community or my profile. Alternatively, you can follow my tumblr thewolfparadox for updates on my progress.
Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review or favorite if you enjoyed, they really make my day ^-^