Title: Destiny: Lost Guardian Files
Rating: M - For mature themes.
Pairing: Hunter-AwokenOC x Cayde-6
Chapter: Two - File Two
Genre: Angst, Drama, Adventure, Romance

10 years later…

It was a third time that night someone roared with laughter, slamming their hand on the table, sending yet another flagon of beer crashing to the floor. From behind the bar, a white haired woman sighed, slamming down her hands. "JASON," she snapped, "spill one more goddamn beer, and I will pull it out of your hide! Out, you're fucking drunk again."

The man looked startled for a moment before he stood, large and imposing, tripping as he made his way to the counter, leaning on it heavily. "Y-Yo-youuuu don't… don't get to talk to me l-li-like that," he slurred, licking his lips as he fought to keep his balance.

The woman smirked, lifting a brow. "Oh really?" she challenged, leaning in towards him, not bothered by the smell of alcohol on his breath. "You see, the thing is… I can, because it's my fucking bar." Giving him a light shove, she laughed as he slid off, tripping backwards onto the floor.

He didn't rise, and she knew he wouldn't. He was too drunk, again.

"Samson, Derek, pull him outside, please."

Little time was wasted pulling him out of the bar, the smell of the summer night drifting before it became the smell of smoke, sweat and alcohol.

"You know," a familiar robotic voice chimed in, "you shouldn't treat your customers so badly."

Rolling her luminous teal eyes, the woman grabbed a rag, going to clean up what she could of the spill. Can it, Orion. Jason has been warned. She shot back, glancing up into the rafters, smiling as she saw her familiar little blue eyed friend looking down at her.

It was no secret that she was a former Guardian, out in the wilds of Earth's ruins with her Ghost. People eventually stopped asking when she kept putting a glock in their face with a smile. Ending up owning a bar, as far from the Last City as she could tolerate, Vesper made herself a home here.

A little settlement had sprung up around her, and the old Guardian made herself a home.

Picking up the flagon and her rag, the Awoken female made her way back to the bar, humming as she washed off her hands. She had come to love this life, tempering her lust for adventure some years ago, listening to the stories of the travelers that wandered in.

As if something was listening, the door to the bar opened again; The sweet summer evening breathing life into the crowded bar, but it was hinted with a unique scent. One very few, if anyone, would still recognize.

Memories of roaming the local market, the smells of the various dishes and foods being sold. Then there were the rare and exotic scents from other worlds, merchants beckoning you with clawed hands, to come and see their fine wares.

Memories of a home she purposely left behind.

Of certain people she left behind.

Spinning on her heel, gun drawn, the Awoken glared at the intruder in her bar, swallowing hard. All sound had died the second she summoned her gun, seeing a familiar face walking towards her. Though his armor had changed over the last decade, his face hadn't, nor the look in his glowing eyes.

"Zavala," she greeted coldly, her finger not on the trigger, but she wasn't lowering her weapon, either. Out of the three former Vanguard's she answered once to upon a time, he was the only consistent thorn in her side. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

For a moment, the Titan leader said nothing, instead leaning on her bar counter, staring her down with the same teal, luminous eyes of their people. "I have come to offer you a chance to return," he said slowly, the rumbling thunder of his voice steady as his gaze.

Scoffing, she finally lowered her gun, allowing it to disappear. "Or what? You'll threaten to remove my Light? Take my Ghost?" Though he had, in the past, she knew he would never dare actually act upon his threats. Not when the Last City was constantly at stake. Every last Guardian, willing or not, Zavala valued.

Even her. The rebellious wayward.

Still, his silence was unnerving this time. She knew he came, as he always did, bearing a cross on his back. Another offer to return.

To suffer from afar.

Never again would she choose that. Once was already enough.

"Something is coming, Vesper," he said finally, breaking her thoughts as she realized conversation had returned to her bar, almost drowning him out. "Something big. I can feel it."

Pouring him a drink, she set the flagon in front of him, sighing heavily. If anything, she could count on him being dramatic, as usual.

Some things never change. Came a little familiar voice in her head.

Stifling a laugh, she sighed, tapping the worn wood under her hand thoughtfully. "Whatever it is, Zavala, it's not the first time, and we know it won't be the last." Usually Ikora was the premonition having one, the one ridden with guiltful feelings and doing everything she could to prevent it. Not Zavala.

"Even so," she continued, looking up in time to lock eyes with a man about to throw his bottle at someone, only to shrink down again, Vesper sighed, "if it comes down to it, all you have to do is open a comms channel with Orion and we'll come help."

Turning to put some beers to chill, she froze when he grabbed her wrist, forcing the white haired Awoken to look at the old Titan. "Vesper, it's more serious than that."

Fear surged through her at their contact, the room tense again as she ripped herself free from him. "I don't care," she snapped, the air around her crackling with energy. "That's the deal we forged, and that's the deal we keep, Zavala."

She knew what he was after, what he was searching for. A reason to make her come back. There was only one. One person who could make her go back, one person who haunted her thoughts and dreams constantly. Using him would be a low blow and she would throw Zavala out without a second thought.

The old Titan wouldn't go there, she knew that. But it hung in the air between them.

But there was another reason he came to her so often, begging her to return. A one sided love. Something she should have seen from the beginning.

"I'm done with this conversation," she said, her tone final. "Enjoy your drink and time away from the stress of the City, but after that, I want you gone." With that, she excused herself, heading out the door beside her bar, breathing in deeply as soon as she was outside.

She sensed him there, always near, never far. Sometimes she welcomed it, others Vesper wished she could just strangle him. But Ghosts don't have throats.

"Don't start," she snapped, crossing her arms as she kicked at the dirt.

There was a soft sound as he floated by her, looking up at the night sky, partially hidden by the light of the settlement, but enough stars shone through the light noise. "I won't," he responded softly, like he always did.

Vesper sighed, throwing her hands up. "I don't… Zavala just… I don't understand his infatuation with me." The young Awoken had noticed it a long time ago, but chalked it up to him just being a nice, slightly intense, guy. Then, after she and… After she left, he found her. No matter how far she went, how deep she hid, Zavala showed up and things were just getting weird.

"It's because you remind him of someone," Orion said slowly, floating back towards her. "As much as he preaches to ignore the past, Zavala finds himself lost in his past more often than not." While that was a comforting bit of information, it still left thousands of questions unanswered. "I also suspect he's jealous that a certain someone still gets all the girls."

At that, Vesper laughed a little. There always had been some sort of weird bromance-rivalry between them. She wondered if it was still there now. She could still see Ikora, her patience being tested with how they bickered, chiming in to either resolve the matter or adding to it.

"Yeah, well, I got away," she admitted softly, a bitter note in her voice. The white haired female hadn't wanted to get away, but here she was.

Closing her eyes, she let out a long sigh, moving to sit on an old table nearby. Though as much as Vesper tried to ignore the feeling, she knew she was going to have to go back, some day. But that wasn't today and if she had anything to say about it, it wasn't going to be for a long while.

She just wished her gut would agree.

It was a white, hot, searing pain that made her scream as she shot up in bed. A scream that didn't stop for hours, it felt like. Once it faded, her limbs tingling uncomfortably, her head throbbing like someone had hit her with a sledge hammer.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong and it had to do with the Traveler.

Forcing herself out of bed, stumbling to her bedroom window, the Awoken screamed, even seeing from here, the contraption around the Traveler. "By the Light," she whispered, sliding to her knees. Covering her face, for the first time in a long time, Vesper allowed herself to cry.

Though strained, she could still feel Orion. His silent distress was heavy in her mind, both of their emotions intense and full of confused fear. "We have to get back to the City," he said once both their moods had evened out.

Shaking her head, Vesper pulled herself up, still feeling weak and shaken from what had happened. "No, if they… they have the traveler, the City has been sacked." Grunting, she limped out of her room, down into the bar below. There were people already in there, discussing what they had seen already.

"Some kind of Cabal scouting party shot by earlier," one of the residents said, looking worried. "The sigiel on the side I didn't recognize."

"Cabal?" Vesper asked as she finally made it into the room, sliding into one of the nearby chairs. Though her memory of them was dated, she couldn't think of a leader dumb enough to attack the Traveler. It must have been something recent. Someone recent.

She wasn't sure when the chatter started, loud enough to make the already existing pain in her head worse, Vesper rubbed her forehead. The sun had risen by now, her little, dingy bar full with most of the settlement, people shouting over one another.

"Shut it, the lot of you!" She shouted suddenly, standing up. She swayed for a moment, but held her own. A sea of eyes stared back at her, and her decision was made. "We need to pack up what we can, what we have and get the hell out of here." Many of the faces staring back at her were confused, a few even angry.

"Why should we?" Demanded a voice, one of the angry faces coming forward. Vesper knew the man well, not that she wanted too. "You're not even a Guardian anymore, so why should we listen to you?"

Sighing, the white haired woman chuckled, shaking her head, looking up at him as she clapped her hands together slowly. "Because you cataclysmic idiot, there are Guardian's out there who need our help. People fleeing the goddamn Last City who need fucking help." Stepping up to him, she squared her shoulders, smirking at the angry face looking back at her. "Any other questions?"

"No."

"Good. Let's get moving then, shall we?"

Vesper was pretty pleased how many people had pulled together; Guardian and not alike, to help one another. Sure, the Farm was cramped as hell, but it was safe. Scouting parties left about every hour and returned every three, usually with supplies, news or even a wayward Guardian.

But what had her concerned the most is that all the Guardian's were cut off from their light. Every single last one of them. Casting her eyes towards the Traveler, trapped within it's cage, she felt the bitter twist of fear on her tongue. It happened so fast, no one had seen it coming. Whomever this Ghaul was, he knew what he was doing with his Red Legion of doom.

"Commander Zavala!"

Jumping a full foot as someone ran past her, screaming an all too familiar name, Vesper turned in time to see Zavala, with Ikora in tow, enter the Farm. Relief swept through her, seeing they were fine, but luminous teal eyes searched for another.

"Looking for me?"

Her head snapped around, staring at the man who stood before her. Sure, his flesh had since been replaced with mechanical parts, but she still saw him in there.

Vesper felt her heart in her throat, seeing him again. The Awoken did note how the attack had taken its toll on him, the Exo looking like he had seen better days. Slipping off the barrel she had perched herself on, her mouth was dry as she felt the connection between them pull her forward.

"Cayde," she whispered, unable to stop herself from touching his cheek. "Did you do this?" It was a tease, obviously, but she saw his features light up, that twinkle of mischief in his mechanical blue eyes.

"Sadly, I can't take the blame. This time."

The world fell away as he wrapped one arm around her, Vesper felt herself relax as their faces neared, only to jump apart when someone cleared their throat. Flushing a darker blue hue, the Awoken excused herself, rushing away.

"Nothing changed, did it?" The amused tone in her Ghost's voice was almost palpable. She could almost see his little eye, bright and cheery, but she knew better. "Almost like no time had passed."

"Shut. Up. Orion."

The Ghost laughed in her mind, for the first time in a long time. Unable to help herself, she cast a glance back at the Cayde-6 unit, a smile finding its way to her face as she watched him meet her eyes, winking before he was pulled away for his Vanguard duties.

Some things never really did change.

Authors Note ; Hey there, hi there, ho there!
Here's my second installment of this series! Not sure if anyone is really interested, but, hey, I'm enjoying the story and that;s the most important thing, right?
Anyway, this is a bit of an AU of events, I do have a sister story in the works about my self as a Guardian, which is introduced in another chapter, all the Main Game Story is followed through her. Vesper and this story is the other side of things, but with a twist.
Hope you enjoy it and happy reading!