The mission was simple enough. Find and kill Omnigul. Cerulean fought through scores of Hive and Fallen before their progress slowed significantly. Waves upon waves of Thrall poured through the rusty ruins of a building they had tracked Omnigul to. She was here. They knew it. Her screeching laughter could be heard echoing from somewhere deeper into the Jovian Complex.

Twice Franz had been caught and ripped to pieces by Thrall overtaking their position. Rorick had requested some of the Hunter scouts in the area to bring them back up ammunition, which Flak had gone back to retrieve while the rest of the team regrouped.

"This can't last forever," Sisre said. "There has to be an end to the Thrall."

"I'm sure you're right. I've just never seen so many before." Beorn reloaded his auto rifle.

Flak returned and distributed the ammo, behaving under Rorick's watchful gaze.

This was it. They had to push through this time.

Wren took a deep breath and followed Cerulean back out into the area where they had last spotted Omnigul. A few Thrall were still milling about, unprepared for the Guardians to return. Omnigul had waited for them before, launching shots of blue flame from her palms before summoning an Ogre which had served to push Cerulean back, allowing Omnigul time to flee.

Sunlight poured through the hole where the roof of the complex should be, shedding light on broken down catwalks, piles of ruble and stone, ash covered armor of fireteam Cerulean. A Hallowed Knight came out of nowhere, sword colliding with the ground at Rorick's feet, sending the Titan rolling across the ground. The Knight raised the sword once more and Sisre had reached her limit.

From beside Wren, Sisre erupted into bright blue electricity. The air around her sparked and Wren leapt back as Sisre caught the Knight's jaw with a swift uppercut that snapped the Hive's neck back at a sickening angle. Its body burned away as she ran up the slope toward the Ogre and hoard of Cursed Thrall, arms wrapped tight around their ticking timebomb bodies.

"Get that Ogre," Rorick said, regaining his footing.

The Ogre fell under combined fire, but so too did Sisre, blown to pieces by the Cursed Thrall that had surrounded her during her onslaught of the Ogre. Rorick was the first to reach her and revive her. He handed her the sniper rifle she'd abandoned in order to protect him from the Knight and the pair of them spoke in hushed tones before Rorick tried to move the fireteam into the next area.

They ran down the hallway, Omnigul's screaming growing louder. She had trapped herself. The room was rectangular with a catwalk that spanned the length but was low enough to the ground that Rorick and Beorn would have to duck to get under it.

The same green flames that coated the stony walls in the Temple of Crota danced along the walls here and the closer they got to Omnigul; the hazier Wren's vision became.

"We'll have to take her on the bridge," Rorick said through comms.

Easier said than done. Hive were constantly swarming the floor beneath the catwalk where Omnigul hovered, bombarding them with bolts of energy from her palms. Wren caught a glimpse of Beorn and Franz headed to the left side of the room, taking cover behind some pillars and strange looking braziers. She ran to them, sliding in before Omnigul's blasts splashed against the floor behind her.

Wren moved farther to the left, taking a place behind some crates in front of a doorway to a small room that opened to the hall they'd come from. She didn't have a great view of Omnigul, but her Knights, Acolytes, and Thralls were in perfect view. She killed them as they spawned, hoping it would be enough to give Rorick a chance at his super.

Beorn cried out from somewhere to her right and Franz exploded into Void energy. He streaked up toward Omnigul, hand extended before his super could take its full effect. Wren ran out to shoot at Omnigul, to help Franz as he attacked. The center of the room was a flurry of blue and purple light until the black fog surrounded them and Wren could no longer safely shoot into the fog.

She fell back to aid Beorn. He'd pulled himself up to sit against a wall and Wren stood between his feet, defending him while he waited for his shields to come back up.

"I guess we're even," he chuckled when he could finally stand.

"I figure we'd keep trading off." Wren nudged his elbow before running to Franz' aid. His super was done and he crawled from Omnigul's black cloud, falling into a heap from the catwalk.

"Hang in there," Beorn said, putting his hand on Franz' helmet.

"It— it's just a…. just a scratch," Franz coughed.

Beorn and Wren protected Franz until he could finally sit up, then Rorick called for help from above. Wren knew Beorn wouldn't want to leave Franz so she skirted her way around the wall until she could get up the stairs to the end of the catwalk, where Sisre and Rorick stood, Flak's body limp on the ground behind them.

"Use your super," Rorick demanded, then popped a bubble to protect himself and Sisre while they resurrected Flak.

Wren didn't hesitate. The Golden Gun blazed into her palm and she shot Omnigul until she was burned out. Omnigul was getting weaker. Her movements were slowing and she hovered closer to the ground. Flak launched over Wren's head in a streak of crackling Arc energy while Wren backed up, trying to shoot around Flak to hit Omnigul.

Rorick stepped out of the bubble and shot a rocket at Omnigul but he was unable to see that she'd been charging to blast him. The moment the rocket left the launcher Wren threw herself at him, pushing him out of the way before she was pummeled by the energy that flew from Omnigul's hands. His voice sounded miles away as she fell from the catwalk to the swarm of Thrall below.

The last thing she remembered was an explosion of Cursed Thrall, then she was on the other side again. Quiet. Calm. She'd been alone last time and she sat up from the shallow water expecting to be alone this time. Last time had been torture; trapped in the consuming blackness of the abyss.

"Cayde?" she called tentatively, rising to her knees.

"You really gotta stop with the heroics?"

She turned so fast she fell on her butt in the water. "You're here."

"Did ya miss me?"

"Where were you last time?"

"Well, last time was right after you shot Flak. I guess you didn't feel worthy of me being here. Or you were hiding from me. From guilt. Speakin' of which," she said, crouching down to look her in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me what he's been doing to you? I mean, the real me."

"I didn't know how."

"You know Flak isn't going to stop until someone makes him."

"You don't think so?"

Cayde shrugged and held out a hand to help her stand. "I know what you know. Deep down you know he's only going to get worse. He's going to hurt you, Wren. Maybe not in a way that's physically permanent, but he will hurt you."

"What do I do?"

"You tell me. The real me," he handed her the hem of his cloak but she was reluctant to take it.

"If I do, it'll make things with the other Hunters worse. They already see me as your pet. Your favorite. If you defend me, get Flak reprimanded, it'll only confirm what they think."

Cayde's face grew grave. "Listen kid, there's fear down deep," he said, poking his finger into her stomach. "You feel it. You know it's only a matter of time before this gets out of hand and by then, I won't be able to protect you from the damage that's done."

He held the cloak out again and this time Wren took it. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she could swear she felt the weight of it before he turned and led her onward. She stared at the frayed end of the cloak in her hand and smiled, then it faded away in white light and she was laying on her back, looking up at Beorn.

"We did it," Beorn said, pulling her to her feet.

"The agents of Crota will have been defeated. The Hive will not take this discretion lightly. You Guardians have given them something new to fear," Eris said. "Come home. We will discuss the next steps in defeating Crota for good."

"I've been looking for you."

Wren turned her head to see Cayde standing below her in the little den she'd claimed for herself. He climbed up to the roof where she sat, leaned against the lower rails that used to enclose the top of the building. She crossed her arms over the bar and let her chin rest on them as she stared out over the City.

"You have a sweet setup out here," he said as he sat beside her. "I really like this place. Ya know, maybe this will be our den. We'll make one. Stock up on all the Hunters that can't get in anywhere else."

Wren snorted and shook her head. "No one would join us."

"Yeah, maybe not." He tapped his thumbs on the bar, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the building to the sheer drop of the Wall below. "I heard around that Emelie slapped you."

"That's old news."

"I think I get it now. That's when she called you my pet?"

Wren looked away.

"Did she do that because I've taken you under my wing?"

She was taken aback by how quiet he was. The twinge of hurt in his voice. She put her mouth in the crook of her elbow and stared at him for a time before raising her head to answer him.

"No. She did it because I told her I was wrong in wanting you to apologize for calling her a bitch."

Cayde laughed. "And I wasted a perfectly good pinkie promise on that, too."

Wren smirked but she didn't see as much humor in it as he did. He must have noticed because he cleared his throat and went back to tapping on the bar.

"I really cause a lot of trouble for you, don't I?" he asked.

"Cayde—"

"No, it's okay. You didn't want to hurt my feelings, I get it. I brought you something the other day, but you were passed out. Maybe it can be an apology before I go back to being just your average everyday Vanguard."

He pulled a silver chain from his pocket with a purple crystal at the end. It was about a half an inch thick and an inch and a half long, gradient in color starting as white and ending in a brilliant, deep purple that even in the low light looked like it contained hundreds of tiny stars.

"It's beautiful," she said, twisting it between her fingers.

"Petra Venj gave it to me a long time ago. It comes from… well, from where the Awoken came from. She said the whole city is made outta that stone. We can't get there, but sometimes I think about what that place must look like."

"Are you sure you want to give this to me?"

"You bet. Apology accepted?"

Wren stared at the stone and nodded. Cayde stood to leave but before he could drop down into the den below Wren stopped him.

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

"What now?"

He shrugged. "Now we're just Vanguard and Hunter. Strictly work and that's all. That should get the other Hunters off your back."

"But…" she chewed her lip and clutched the stone tight in her fist. "What if I still want to go back to Kingstone with you. I mean, you did promise to take me back there. To get the loot."

Cayde's eyes softened and he smiled. "Whatever you want."