A/N:

So, this season in Destiny has put out a lot of Crow lore that, honestly, I really don't know how to unpack. None of what I've seen so far destroys any of the headcanon I'm using for this story though (I think anyway), so hopefully it all pans out…

DISCLAIMER: Error 404: Ownership not found.

-{O}-

{THE GLASSWAY, EUROPA}

-{O}-

"We are almost there, friend!" an absolute mountain of a man coated in heavy armor and purple ribbons called out to his companion, a much smaller man wearing almost ceremonial white clothing with a mask covering his eyes.

"I… I see that, but… are you sure this will help? I mean, surely everyone else has already checked this place out…" the smaller man asked as he climbed onto a large rock, his new vantage point allowing him a good view of the makeshift Vex portal in the center of the room.

"Bah, Warlocks overlook the simplest of things, Crow. Is better for us to check ourselves, yes?"

"I guess, Saint… I'm just not sure about this whole thing. I mean, what if the Vex invade while we're here? We don't really have a full team…" Crow responded nervously.

"Nonsense! If Vex open portal, we show them error of their ways, yes? Do not worry, my friend; I will protect you, as Kyle did for me so long ago," Saint-14, the most famous Titan, replied to the reborn Uldren Sov.

"Actually, about that…" Crow trailed off, searching for words, before continuing, "How did that… work? I mean, I've heard mention of a Sundial and some Vex time travel, but…"

Saint-14 chuckled, throwing an arm around the Hunter's shoulders. Said Hunter, not particularly minding the contact, let it happen. "Ah, that would be a bit of a story, my friend. You see, it all began a long, long time ago… long before even the Last City was built. It was my first mission away from Earth, assigned to protect the survivors on Mercury and evacuate them to a safe zone. Unfortunately… it did not end well. We were attacked by Fallen from the House of Rain; they slaughtered those I sought to protect and managed to corner me when I attempted to retreat. There I was, low on Light, doing everything I could to hold up my Ward of Dawn even when I knew I had already failed in my duties…"

The Titan trailed off, and his partner finished for him, "… Then Kyle appeared."

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Saint-14 nodded. "Yes, and then my friend appeared. Clad in intricate armor of black and gold, wearing a helmet so very similar to mine, and with Light that burned stronger than any I had ever seen. He tore through the Fallen with a speed and resolve I could hardly believe, and once the battle was over, he bolstered my own shattered resolve. He showed me the Last City, what we would achieve in the future; he shared what he could of the future trials that awaited us, and then he was gone. I did not see him again until many, many years later, upon becoming trapped in the Infinite Forest; over years of studying me, the Vex had created a Mind to steal my light; they named it Agioktis, the Martyr Mind. It managed to trap me, but right before I could send Geppetto off with a message, he appeared once again. Clad in the same armor, with the same helmet, and with the same brightly burning Light; a Guardian Savior in the flesh, just as I had seen all those years before. With his help, I slaughtered the infernal contraption; from there, I spent a few centuries inside the Infinite Forest, thinning the Vex numbers. After that, Kyle opened a doorway for me, and so here I am!"

Crow simply stared at the Titan, awestruck. "That… I had no idea that Kyle had done so much for you… he hasn't really told me a lot of his exploits before…"

"Ah, my friend," Saint-14 chuckled, "that is simply the kind of person he is. Kyle, much like myself, prefers actions to empty bragging; like most Titans, his fist speaks much louder than his words. This does not mean he is a fool, however. Whatever you and he spoke about, I can safely assume it was something you needed to hear at the time."

The Hunter fell silent after that, thinking back to his conversations with Kyle; the other Titan had taught him how to be a Guardian, how to wield his Light in ways that he had never imagined… and also consoled him whenever he was attacked for whatever his old life had done, never judging him despite the conflict Crow sometimes saw in his eyes.

"… Hey, Saint?" he started, "Could you… tell me who I was before?"

Saint-14 turned to look back at him, then glanced down at the shotgun in his hands; a gift from Kyle, given both months and centuries ago. "… Alright, young one. You see, there was once a man known as Uldren Sov, the brother of Queen Mara Sov of the Reefborn Awoken…"

-{O}-

{BELLADONNA MANSION, KUO KUANA, MENAGERIE}

-{O}-

Kyle walked up to the house's front door, ignoring the looks he got from the guards; luckily, they seemed to be more neutral than most of the other Faunus he had met, so perhaps the Belladonnas would be the same. Said guards had already searched him for weapons (of which he only had one, Ghost having dismissed the rest), so they let him pass without much issue once he turned the Last Word over to them.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Kyle raised his fist, his knuckles impacting the door three times before he stepped back to wait. Not even a minute later, the door opened and a motherly woman with black hair and feline ears poked her head out.

"Oh! Hello there! I'm afraid we weren't expecting any visitors… may I ask your name?" she asked politely, cat ears twitching as she did.

"I am Kyle Void, a bounty hunter registered with the Kuo Kuana Bounty Office; I apologize for disturbing you today, but I wished to speak with Chieftain Belladonna about a few important matters if he has the time," the Titan responded, taking off his helmet in order to let the woman see his face.

The cat Faunus looked surprised, before placing a hand to her chin in thought. "Hmm… I think he's supposed to have a meeting later, but he should be free right now. If you'll follow me…?"

Kyle nodded, falling into step behind the woman as she led the way through the mansion, but the silence didn't last for long.

"So, Mister Void, how is Kuo Kuana treating you so far?" she asked, apparently curious.

Thinking back on his experiences, the Titan shrugged. "Well enough I suppose; I'm not exactly popular with the locals, but I can't say I blame them for thinking that way."

"Oh? So the discrimination doesn't bother you?"

"Not really, ma'am. I've been through a lot worse; a few glares and muttered insults don't even register. The White Fang, on the other hand… never mind," he cut himself off before he could mention his run-in with the (supposed) White Fang goons; he wasn't entirely sure how people would react to it, but he knew enough to figure he didn't want to find out.

The Faunus lady glanced at him with a bit of sympathy before responding. "Yes, that silly little tiger never did think things through… I apologize if this is a bit personal, but I'm curious. How would you suggest handling the situation between humans and Faunus?"

Kyle had to stop and think for a few moments. How would he suggest handling it? The closest thing he had really experienced on such a large scale was the hatred between humanity and the various forces of the Darkness, but that hatred was more similar to the hatred between Remnant's inhabitants and the Grimm, rather than the animosity between humans and Faunus. Other than that, there was the slight animosity that the Reef had held against the Last City, but that had ended fairly quickly once he and his old crew started clearing up the Prison of Elders for them, not counting the issue with Uldren Sov and the Scorn…

Realizing the Faunus woman was still waiting for a response, Kyle shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure how it could be handled without violence. I've heard about the Faunus Rights Revolution, and about the early methods of the White Fang. The issue the Faunus have, unfortunately, is that they are not fighting a war that can be won with rationality; if they were, this would not be an issue in the first place. Instead they are fighting those who rely on their feelings and emotions, like all humans; at first it was dislike of those who were different, and now after the war it's that earlier racism combined with the hatred that comes with losing family and friends to enemy soldiers, then being expected to play nice with those same enemies and their families. On the other hand, there's also the apathy; most humans simply don't care about the issues of anyone outside their immediate family and friends. It's not racism, it's simply the fact that our brains aren't made to handle such a large scale of tragedy, especially tragedy outside our own 'tribe'; a single death in the family is a tragedy, while a million in a different city is simply a statistic. After all, most humans make close bonds with less than a hundred people in their lives; how can they hope to understand the sheer loss of life inherent in a death toll ten thousand times more than that?"

Shaking his head, Kyle continued, "No, the best way to handle this situation is to make it personal for everyone, civilian, politician and soldier alike. For that, there are two methods I can see; one, to commit terrorist acts until the people are too afraid to mistreat a Faunus in fear of them being targeted themselves, or two, to expose those who mistreat the Faunus. Most people hear of White Fang raids on SDC mining camps and rationalize it away as either propaganda or simply companies cutting costs, but it's much harder to rationalize away things like laws that specifically target Faunus, or businesses that cater only to humans and the like. I suppose, to summarize, my suggestion would be to force this injustice into the light, kicking and screaming, and shove people's misdeeds into their faces so that they can't ignore them. Either that, or gather enough military and political power that you can flip the narrative and become the ones on top, which is faster but runs the risk of humanity eventually rising up for the exact reasons you did. Unless you simply execute every human I suppose; an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, but it's easy to avoid vengeance if there's no one to enact it."

After a few moments of silence, Kyle realized that the Faunus lady (he really needed to ask her name) had stopped and was staring at him. A few more uncomfortable seconds later, she smiled. "Well, young man… I've never met anyone who put the situation in such a light before. You don't believe in the inherent goodness of humans and Faunus then?"

Kyle couldn't stop the amused snort from escaping, "No ma'am; I've met far too many humans to believe in an inherent goodness across the species; an individual may be a saint, but humans are devils. No, humans will always do what is best for them or, failing that, what is easiest for them. Right now, actively making a stand against injustice is such a large issue that no one person could fix it, and so people tell themselves that 'since no one else is doing it, my own contribution won't change anything'. No, the best way to end this divide is to make racism and discrimination harder than treating people equally; again, this falls back to the earlier two options. Either hurt and kill everyone who steps out of line, making it far safer and easier to just toe the line, or make the discrimination such a large public issue that anyone who isn't actively calling for equality would be ostracized. So, either target their lives and livelihoods, or target their social credibility and whatever conscience and morals they may have. Once you have established a minimum of equality, it will be much easier to enact change using that as a foothold."

"Well said," another voice cut in, and Kyle almost jumped in surprise.

He'd been so focused on the conversation that he hadn't noticed the newcomer approach; it certainly didn't help that his helmet was currently held under his arm, so he was lacking his motion sensor. Turning to the owner of the new voice, Kyle barely kept his jaw in place; the man was even larger than Shaxx! Easily standing inches over Kyle himself, the man's biceps were almost twice the size of his own!

{"Huh… honestly, I wasn't expecting this today."} Ghost spoke in his mind, just as surprised as the Titan was.

Stepping forward, the giant held out his hand for a shake. Almost robotically, Kyle shook it, doing his best to keep the surprise off his face. Judging by both of the Faunus' smirks, he wasn't quite successful.

"It's good to meet the one who helped out Asbel; Mayor Scarlatina has told me a lot about you. I am Ghira Belladonna, and this is my wife Kali. What did you wish to talk to us about?"

Kyle's head snapped around to look at the diminutive Faunus woman, before looking back to the massive man in front of him; these two were the Chieftain and his wife?! "Ghost… next time, remind me to look over a few pictures of our targets…"

{"I was wondering if you'd figure it out yourself; for all those smarts, you've still got a mass of relic iron between those ears of yours…"}

Ignoring the glowing golf ball's teasing, he chased away those thoughts. "Greetings, Chieftain Belladonna… I am Kyle Void, a bounty hunter. I have come to discuss the possibility of fortifying Asbel village, along with the possible sale of several advanced weapons blueprints."

"Oh?" the Chieftain raised an eyebrow, "This sounds like an interesting conversation then… Kali, please lead us to the meeting room."

The cat-eared woman started walking, Ghira barely a step behind her; after a moment, Kyle followed as well, noting as he walked that the house was far more spartan than he had expected for such an important family.

When they reached the meeting room, the Chieftain gestured for him to take a seat before sitting himself. Shrugging internally, Kyle did so, pulling out one of the rather spartan chairs and plopping into it.

Nodding at the sight, Ghira spoke up, "You mentioned a desire to fortify Asbel… may I ask why? Most bounty hunters simply complete their task and leave; very few of them spend a week training up a militia, and then come back to Kuo Kuana to ask around about purchasing materials to create defenses for a town they've visited once."

"I've spent all my life protecting those who can't protect themselves; might as well keep doing it. I have the ability to do the right thing, so I do it," Kyle explained.

Ghira stared for a moment, before nodding slowly, "Very well then. Before I authorize the transfer of materials to Asbel, however, I must ask how you plan to fortify the village. I know you've been training a militia, and have armed them somehow, but even a team of expert Huntsmen couldn't hold a village indefinitely."

"Well, firstly, I plan to finish their training and supply them with equipment that fits their chosen roles," Kyle leaned forward as he spoke, "Secondly, while I do that, I plan to enlist the help of the villagers in order to construct a wall around the village; preferably one strong enough to last through a Grimm assault. While the wall is being constructed, I plan to deploy several point-defense turrets to hold the perimeter and keep the workers safe, and once the wall has been completed those turrets will also serve as the first line of defense in case of an actual attack."

"I see… while I can provide a certain amount of support, Kuo Kuana simply doesn't have the resources to spare for such an ambitious plan. We can divert a few shipments of various metals, perhaps a few crates of weapons or a single turret, but nowhere near what you would need for that plan," Ghira cautioned.

Kyle nodded, having expected the response. "I figured. I plan on selling some weapon designs to raise the capital needed for the undertaking, but I wanted to discuss the specifics with you before I did it."

Ghira raised an eyebrow; "And what specifics did you want to discuss?"

Taking a minute to formulate his thoughts, Kyle decided to simply jump into things. "I have blueprints for energy-based medium ranged weaponry that do not require Dust to use, and can easily destroy multiple targets in a single burst. I plan on selling the basic blueprints to either Menagerie or Atlas, in order to raise the funds I need, but I figured I should run the idea by you first; seeing as I'm in your kingdom and all."

Both the chieftain and his wife exchanged a glance, before looking back to the Titan. "How expensive would these weapons be to produce?"

Kyle shrugged, "It depends on your current technological level; from what I've gathered, it won't be cheap to set up the infrastructure, but the lower-quality models are fairly easy to produce. They'd be even cheaper if you manage to swap them over to use Dust; in fact I could do it myself if I got my hands on some of the stuff."

"… How much do you plan to charge for the blueprints?"

"If you're willing to send the materials Asbel needs, I'd be happy to give the basic blueprints to you right now. I'd even be willing to find a way to convert them to use Dust, like I said."

Ghira gave him an appraising glance, "I said it earlier, but you're certainly a strange bounty hunter. Why are you doing this? I barely know anything about weaponry, but even I know how important what you're offering might be to Atlas; they'd probably bend over backwards to get them, so why are you willing to part with them so easily?"

Kyle stared for a moment, before leaning back in his chair and sighing. "I suppose… old habits die hard. I was one of the protectors of my… well, we called it a city, I suppose you would simply call it a settlement. I was one of the Guardians assigned to protect the settlement, both defending it and dealing with external threats; mainly non-human," realizing what he said, he hurried to clarify, "er, Grimm, I mean. Around four years ago, we were attacked by a large group of… bandits, I suppose you could call them, who wanted to steal a piece of technology that was incredibly important to us. They succeeded, for a while; many of the citizens and Guardians died, and the rest were forced to go into hiding. I eventually unlocked… my Semblance, and was able to reunite the survivors and take back the settlement. We've been doing mostly fine since then, but… the experience stuck with me. I lost many good friends, some I'd been fighting beside for years, since I first became a Guardian…"

He trailed off, shaking his head to clear those thoughts, "Sorry, I've gotten off track. What I'm saying is that I understand how it feels to lose friends, family, even your home; while I got mine back, I want to prevent anyone else from having the same happen to them. How could I call myself a Guardian otherwise?"

-{O}-

{THE TOWER, EARTH}

-{O}-

Liam looked up from his work, into the robotic eyes of Houston-7. "… How the hell did you get this? From what I can tell, this is the entire collection of research that Variks and his Eliksni conducted on the Glassway; hell, there's stuff here that I've never even considered!"

The Exo shrugged, "Eh, those Fallen bastards are good at scavenging and eating babies; at least one of those is going in our favor this time."

The Warlock shot the Hunter a disapproving glare. "Their race is called Eliksni."

"And Cayde was a great guy, but that didn't stop Variks from getting him killed now did it? Besides, I don't give a fuck what the four-eyed bastards think. If they have a problem with it, they can talk to my gun."

Sighing heavily, Liam glanced back to the computer on his desk, which was steadily translating the data received into a language he could read. "I understand you're angry about Cayde; all of us are. But his death was Uldren's fault. Variks was barely involved. Besides, Kyle was willing to give him a chance…"

"The fucking 'Guardian Savior' would play nice with the Cabal if he thought it would help the City; doesn't mean he likes 'em."

Liam conceded the point, but felt the need to correct his teammate. "The Cabal's idea of 'playing nice' involved border skirmishes and thermonuclear weapons; these are the same aliens that blow up moons that get in their way. I give it three months before Kyle breaks them over his knee and has their leader willing to follow our lead."

"Speaking of those big space rhinos… what happened to Calus? I was having a great time kicking his ass together every few weeks, but then the Darkness steals our planets and suddenly the big bastard is gone like the wind. All that bullshit about 'grow fat with strength' or whatever was just that, huh?"

Liam opened his mouth to respond, only for the computer to beep insistently. Turning back to the machine, the Warlock's fingers flew across the keyboard, executing commands to bring the supposedly vital information into sight.

Interestingly, it was an alert; one that was apparently from the old Clovis Bray Exoscience scanners at the Glassway. "Hmm… it says here that an alert was tripped; something about observation of a world? The data is corrupted, but the attached note by the Eliksni researcher says that the alert occurred the same day Kyle disappeared!"

Over the course of Liam's observations, his voice showed more and more excitement, with him practically bouncing at the end of it. "Do you know what this means?! The world he was sent to, there's information in the computers about it; that means if we can restore this data, we can get him back!"

Houston sighed, stepping forward to forcibly hold Liam still. "Look, man; I get it. I want him back too. But we can't go in half-cocked; putting aside the fact that the Vex could show up at any time, we don't know a damn thing about the Bray systems, and I still don't know where Ana or her sister ran off to."

Before Liam could respond, there was a knock on the door of the lab; exchanging a glance, the Warlock gestured for Houston to open it. On the other side was another Hunter, wearing a mask and what Liam recognized as a ceremonial Awoken outfit. "Uh… hello? I'm… looking for Warlock Liam? Kyle's teammate?"

Both of the others took note of the way the new Hunter said Kyle's name; he spoke as if he knew the man well enough that they were on a first-name basis. Liam stepped forward, "I am he. What did you need?"

The Hunter seemed to brighten slightly, before reaching into a pouch and drawing out a flash drive similar to the one Houston had brought earlier. "I went to the Glassway with Saint-14, and, uh… we found this."

Liam took it from him, already inserting it into the computer, while Houston stared at the new Hunter; something seemed familiar about him, but he couldn't quite place it… "What's on it?"

"From what Glint could tell," the Hunter motioned to the Ghost floating over his shoulder, "It's a bunch of equations and numbers. They're all encrypted, and even then they flew over my head, but he thinks they might be similar to the equations that the Vex use in their gates."

Liam's head shot around so fast he almost had whiplash; "You're certain?"

Surprised at the sudden motion, the Hunter stepped back slightly. "Uh… reasonably? I don't know anything about it, and Glint and I are somewhat new to the Guardian life, but Kyle and his Ghost told us a lot about when they fought the Vex so I'm reasonably sure we're right."

An almost manic smile grew on the Warlock's face. Unfortunately, it was quickly shattered by the next arrival to the room; Ikora stepped in, barely sparing a glance at the inhabitants before she spoke, "Liam, Houston, I'm going to need both of you for a briefing. Now."

"Sorry, Ikora, but we're really busy right now-" Liam tried to protest, only to be interrupted.

Ikora looked him dead in the eye, "The Cabal Empress, Caiatl, met with Zavala to discuss a truce; negotiations failed, and now she's organizing a War Council to wage war on us. I want Kyle back as much as you, but we can't bring him back if there's nothing to bring him back to. Meeting room. Now."

A/N:

Not a lot covered this chapter in the grand scheme of things, but I'm setting up for later; as you can see, Saint and Crow are bonding, Kyle is still getting set up in Menagerie and Remnant in general, and Liam and Houston are doing their best to bring back their teammate, but unfortunately, Season of the Chosen is rearing its ugly head.

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it ugly, it did bring some fun things and some neat story.

Anyway, I don't have a lot to say for now; I'm almost done with the first two rewritten chapters of Healing Thy Pain, so I'll hopefully have them out sometime over the next few days. For now though…

AWDTB, signing off.