The envoy shrieked, the piercing howl of its death cry almost too loud with how close Skylar was to it as the final blow from her Fated Hearts finally downed it. It fell to the ground with a heavy echoing sound, dissolving into black mist like any other Taken wizard. The playing field of Titan was imprinted into her mind at this point – The Drifter really liked this area for some reason – and she hardly even thought as she skidded into the cover of the small viewing area that skirts the middle arena. The Taken ogre snarled, its eye beam chasing Noble around the area as he ran, firing his Suros Regime as he went. Corvan stood off to the side, firing rockets at it, before jumping out of the way as the eyebeam found him instead.

Their random teammate – Talen? – from the queue was scurrying around taking pock shots when he could, before throwing down a field that Noble jumped into. Skylar glanced at her HUD, viewing the Life counter of their prey before looking at the smaller one that marked the enemy team's.

They're getting too close to over taking them.

"I'm going over," she announced, stowing her hand cannon and pulling The Whisper from her back. Corvan gave her a sound of affirmation over the comms and she bolted from her cover, blink stepping right into the swirling mass that was the portal. Her ears popped as she landed on the same field as her own, her form outlined in red as she threw a smoke bomb on the ground and disappeared. She didn't run for the middle of the area, instead, she jumped up and up until she was on top of a nearby building and crouched.

Raising her scope to her eye she spotted the team of four trying to finish off their Primeval, while one was running around in a circle on the outer edge looking for her. She aimed and pulled the trigger, downing the Hunter first and then moving back to the rest of the team. Another Hunter had used Shadow Shot, the desperation at the sudden incline in health making them panic slightly. Skylar took another shot and that one went down too.

Something popped her shield a moment later and she dodged on instinct. A titan had spotted her and was using his own sniper to get her. Scowling, she aimed and fired, only for another shot to hit her and take her down, but not without him. She stumbled on her revive, shaking her head and instantly having to run from a new envoy that circled her team's field, all the while glancing at the health bars again. They're ahead, but not by much. Whatever the other team was doing was working despite her three kills.

"We need to finish this!" she snapped and all three of her teammates, even the Warlock agreed. A Well of Radiance was up moments later and everyone piled in as Noble used a shotgun to splatter the envoy's form all over a wall. "Plan C," she said and then jumped up till her boost gave out. She summoned her Light and void lightning crawled up her arms as she held her hands out, a bow forming in them moments later. She pulled back and fired up, above the ogre as the three separate bolts of Arc energy smashed down on different sides of the Primeval. The web of energy she knew so well, formed an instant later, three lightning rods slamming straight into the beast as it roared. A moment later flaming hammers joined the onslaught as she landed and hopped back into the Well, Noble chucking his weapons one after another. The Primeval screamed and roared until Corvan raised a hand, his Thorn suddenly overcome by Solar energy as he fired three Golden Gun rounds into its head.

With one final snarl, the creature was gone and Skylar glanced at her HUD once more and sighed in relief as the enemy team had lagged just slightly behind them.

"Team B is the winner! Good job, hot shots!" The Drifter crowed over the comms and Skylar watched the Warlock's shoulders slump in relief. Noble blew out a breath, his gun disappearing with the help of his Ghost as Corvan holstered his own.

"That – that was a close one," Noble turned his helmeted head to her, and she could almost see the grin that was hidden. "Good job with those kills, that's probably what saved our asses, Sky."

"Yeah well…" She played with her rifle's strap, glancing at the countdown till transmat. "I'm pretty sure we all can take credit for that win." She glanced at Talen who was watching them. "Thanks for that Well."

"No problem," he replied, rolling a shoulder. "Guess the rumors are right, your clan really does rule this game don't you?"

Corvan snorted.

"We lose plenty," he grumbled. Skylar nodded her head.

"We just… play a lot," she explained, laughing slightly, as the countdown dropped to zero and with a sudden jerk, they were back on the Derelict . The other team was already walking out, and she rolled her eyes. Sore losers. Turning back to Talen, she smiled now that her helmet was off. "Nice playing with you."

The Awoken nodded again, hesitating for a moment before raising a hand and waving a goodbye as he turned and was gone, back to his ship a moment later. Sighing, she looked to her friends and found Corvan pulling at his hood in habit, helmet gone, as was Noble's. The latter gave her a smile.

"Want another go?"

Skylar tilted her head for a moment, thinking before nodding her head, about to tell Sterling to put them in the queue again, when a sharp beep from said Ghost had him blinking into existence. Sure enough, the little red light on his top fin told her of an incoming call.

"Who is it?"

"Ikora. She said it's urgent." He floated slightly closer. She glanced at her friends and held up a finger to her lips and they both nodded their heads.

"Patch her through."

A shiver of static filled the quiet room for a moment before the leader of The Hidden spoke.

"Agent Falcon?"

"I'm here," the hunter replied, frowning at her friend's tone. "What's wrong?"

"There's been a disturbance on the Moon," she started off. "Zavala is sending in troops to try and combat the Hive. We don't know how but… something is going on and they did it without any of us knowing about it." Her words have all three of them tensing. The hive had been fairly quiet on the moon ever since Crota and this father had died, with only small pockets of activity. This was new.

"What do you need me to do?" She didn't need to ask why she'd been called, Ikora wanted something from her, and only her.

"Eris has been looking into something there and I just lost contact with her an hour ago. This isn't something Zavala knows about… and I'd like to keep it that way for now. I need you to find her. Please, my friend."

Skylar frowned. "You don't need to plead with my Ikora. I do work for you; you can make this a mission and I'd have to go. I am your friend, though and I'm happy you'd rather use that as a way of asking for help," she pointed out, looking at her teammates, in a silent question. They both nod instantly. "Unless you object, I'm calling in a fireteam. This doesn't really feel like a Hidden mission. Somehow, I don't think this is going to be very easy, and you know they won't go call Zavala." All of her friends had just about had enough of blue boy these days. They weren't going to go tattling on Ikora.

There was a pause on the other end of the feed and then:

"That's fine. Choose your team and get moving… and Skylar?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Warmth spread through her chest at that and she smiled softly. Smiles had become easier these days, if only a little bit. Despite Cayde being dead, Haar being too busy and Z off the grid… Skylar could hold on to something, even if it was a small something.

"You don't need to thank me. I'll call you when I know something. Falcon out."

Sterling cut the call and she bit back a groan. The Moon. Why was it always the Hive?

"Why is it," Noble grumbled. "That Eris keeps going back there when every time she does, something bad happens?"

"Fuck if I know," Corvan answered flatly, looking back to Skylar. "What are you thinking?"

Part of Skylar still had trouble with the fact that she was the leader now. Sometimes, like in the game of Gambit, it was easy, but when it came to missions… she worried she'd do something wrong. They trusted her and the last thing she wanted to do was break that. Grasping at the strap across her chest again she looked towards her ship.

"Grab what you need, we leave in twenty."

-Cayde-

The City had changed a lot since he'd last seen it.

Then again, a lot had changed since he last saw it, at least, as far as he remembered last seeing it.

Cayde sighed, scratching at the back of his neck, finally starting to get used to the feel of hair being there as he watched the ground get closer and close from the elevator window. An elevator, mind you, that was for a completely different tower than last he remembered. Glancing to the side he could see what was left of his former home, the slow rebuild of a half-torn apart building looking more like a carcass with its ribs showing than anything else.

The Red War.

Cayde could still see the remains of what the Cabal siege had done to the Last City - the huge craters that had punched holes in farmland and housing alike. The areas were unusable at present; no one knew what to do about it. He still couldn't believe any of it had happened, that the City had been attacked and that they'd lost. Somehow, he'd survived being Lightless and they'd taken things back, but a lot of Guardians had died during the war.

A lot could happen in eighteen years.

The doors opened with a beep, dispensing him into the City near the edge of the outlying housing and shops - the marketplace not too far from where he was. That was his destination since he really needed some… essentials. Zavala had been nice enough to find him some clothes and such, as well as temporary housing while he got acclimated to his life again, but he'd like to pick out his own stuff. Thankfully, he hadn't needed to borrow money, as – much to Ikora's surprise – his Glimmer account had more than enough in it.

Apparently, he'd somehow gotten rid of all his debt.

Tugging at the too-large t-shirt he wore – it was one of Shiro's and surprisingly, the Exo's build was a bit more bulky than his human one – Cayde made his way towards his shopping destination, that area at least the same as always. Or… at least he thought it was. Standing in the start of the large open area with shops lining the edges and booths and carts dotting the inside, Cayde once again felt lost. It was becoming a frustratingly normal feeling for him. He didn't recognize a lot of the shop names, though a few he did and started slowly shuffling towards one of them. It wasn't a clothing shop, but it did have other essentials that he now needed as a human.

Human.

Fuck.

He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to that.

Grabbing and paying for what he needed from the shop, Cayde made his way back out into the plaza, turning to wander down a row of booths when he caught sight of a familiar face, if only for the briefest of moments. Turning back around, Cayde found said person standing in front of a stall: Skylar.

The raven-haired Hunter wasn't in armor like the one time he'd seen her before. Rather she wore a cropped leather jacket with marching knee-high boots. The rest of her attire seemed simple enough from where he stood - just an undershirt and a pair of jeans - still, it was strange to see her like that - not bad, just strange. Standing next to her as she talked to him was Haar-2. Before he'd died Cayde hadn't known the Exo very well, but he'd known of him, mostly because the Titan often made maps for the Vanguard. According to Shiro, Haar, Z, and Skylar were in the same clan, as well as a strike fireteam. In fact, Shiro was in their clan as well.

Cayde watched quietly from his spot as the Hunter – his own rookie – spoke with her hands, smiling softly as she looked up at her friend. After a moment, Skylar gestured and the huge Exo tilted his head and leaned down a bit, only for Skylar to snatch up a ridiculously colored scarf and wrapped it around his neck before he could so much as blink. The fabric bunch up around the double layer long sleeved shirt and vest. Haar didn't protest too much, just grabbed the end of it to look at it and then grimaced as his friend grinned at him. Cayde shook his head.

This was the Hunter Zavala had said was banned from the Tower for crossing too many lines? His old fireteam member hadn't told Cayde specifics, but the Awoken had warned Cayde that the person he'd taught wasn't the same one standing in front of him now. A lot could happen in two years, but Cayde was hardly one to blindly follow someone else's opinion on something or someone. That was his choice, and thus, the ex-Hunter moved from his spot and made his way to the two shoppers.

By the time he'd weaved through the small crowd to get to the other side of the plaza, Haar had taken the scarf off and was shaking his head at his friend, handing it back to the shopkeeper as Skylar crossed her arms, huffing.

"Don't give me that look," Haar reasoned. "I'll buy one if it will make you happy, but I'm not getting something that makes me feel like I'm wearing Dawning tinsel. You know I don't actually need it for the cold so you c-" He cut himself off, spotting Cayde as the he stopped behind Skylar by a few feet. Haar's pause had her looking over her shoulder, her smile dropping almost instantly as surprise replaced it. Cayde scratched at the back of his head again giving a small smile.

"Hey, guys… Sorry to butt in but I saw you and well..." he shifted his stance as Skylar turned around to face him. "Thought I'd say 'hi'. It's been a bit." He hadn't seen either of them since the day he'd woken up and he'd meant to contact Skylar, but things had been so crazy and…He supposed he'd needed time to think about what Zavala had said, even if he didn't rely on it, he'd had to bring it into account.

Haar shook his head slightly, walking up to stand at Skylar's side - towering over both of them. "You didn't really interrupt anything, we were just wandering around. It's good to see you…" he trailed off, ending in a silent question as he looked around the area. Cayde gave him a confused look before suddenly remembering something very important: Cayde-6 was dead, and that was hardly a secret among the masses. He cleared his throat slightly, dropping his hand back down to his side.

"Sevens," he said finally. "I'm going by Sevens."

Haar's brow plates shot straight up. Skylar blinked, stared, and then suddenly snorted, biting her lip to stop from laughing. The nervous smile Cayde had been wearing became more normal at the actions. He'd known it would get some reactions out of people who knew, and he himself had decided on it mostly as a joke and yet… It was fitting. Ikora had come to him two days after he'd been brought back and had helped him work out a story for his sudden appearance, as well as giving himself an alias. Cayde couldn't walk around in public with people calling himself that if he wanted to remain invisible for the most part. He didn't need to be the center of attention with how fucked up everything was to begin with.

So, seeing as he'd been Cayde-6 as an Exo and he'd been - in a sense - brought back once more, Sevens had been a ironically logical choice. He'd always been wary of the number as an Exo, mostly because it would have meant he'd been rebooted again… that was if he really was on '6' to begin with. Cayde pushed the thought away – it hardly mattered now, and he wasn't going to change his name again either way. Sevens worked well enough.

"That's an interesting choice," Skylar mused, those wolf-like eyes slightly softer from the humor she'd had before. Cayde shrugged his shoulders but the Hunter said nothing more, glancing to the side and back at the displays in the stall. Haar frowned at her briefly before looking back to Cayde.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Shopping," Cayde answered, knowing that was probably not what the Exo had meant. "I don't really have a lot to work with. I need some clothes that actually fit, as well as other things. Human things." He led up the one bag he had and Haar let out a small chuckle. Skylar's lips twitched up, even if she wasn't looking at him still. "I'm… well. Honestly, I'm not sure where to go for clothes anymore. Things have changed around a bit." He looked at them both, grabbing Skylar's gaze as she finally turned back to him. "Have any suggestions?" They glanced at each other and after a moment, Haar smirked, and his friend frowned at him.

"I'd love to help you out, Sevens, but I need to get going. Was just hanging around while Amanda tuned my ship, but she should be done by now. Sky knows the market pretty well though. She can take care of you."

Said Hunter looked like she might pull out the hand cannon hanging at her waist and blow her friend's head off. Haar didn't appear worried at all, so Cayde just nodded his head, seeing exactly what was going on: a set up. Maybe the Exo knew Cayde wanted to talk to her? Either way, he was getting his chance.

"You alright with that?" he asked Skylar, tilting his head as she bit her lip again before sighing.

"Yeah… yeah I can do that." Glancing at her friend, she raised a brow at him as if to say 'weren't you leaving?' Haar huffed a bit, patting her shoulder and then raising a hand in goodbye.

"I'll see you later." With that he was off - the large man seeming to plow right through the crowd with little trouble. Cayde watched him go - both of them did - until he was lost within the masses.

Skylar toyed with the end of her ponytail. "So… what kind of clothes- You know what, never mind. I know where to take you." She started to turn away from him to lead him somewhere, but Cayde reached out and grabbed her forearm, stopping her. Under his hold he felt her tense up, her eyes flashing back to his. He gave her another small smile and let go of her quickly.

"If it's alright, I'd like to talk to you first - somewhere a bit more private if possible." He waved his hand at the crowd. "A bit too noisy here for that." The last thing he wanted was for someone to overhear them, seeing as he needed to talk to her around more complicated matters. Skylar looked down for a moment, thinking as she tugged at her hair slightly. It took a long time before she answered, long enough that he'd been ready to take back his request.

"If that's what you want," she said finally, and he nodded his head. Returning the gesture, she glanced around for a moment before waving at him to follow as she started off. Relieved, he followed her, winding through the crowds and out of the shopping district entirely. They took a side ally, walking up to a fire escape. She tilted her head and then jerked her chin up. "This building has a nice view. Come on."

She probably could have jumped up the building, Cayde thought off hand as he followed. It wasn't that tall, two sets of jumps and she'd be up there, but she was taking the long way. Taking the only way he could go, he realized.

Once they were up on the roof, he found out she was right. While the building wasn't all that tall, it gave a nice view of the City's shopping district - most of which were shorter than said building. The wall looked like a horizon line as the sun sank slowly behind it. Beams of that light curled over raven hair as Skylar turned to look at him, her thumbs hooked into the loops of her jeans. There was something… ethereal about her in this light, and yet something seemed out of place on her. Wrong. He shook his head.

"I can guess at what you want to ask," she said finally. "But it's probably better if you say it anyway." There it was again, that sound in her voice that felt tight, guarded. It was the same sound she'd made when they'd talked in the Tower – like something hurt and she was forcing herself to ignore it. Shifting his weight, Cayde could only agree with her assessment, yeah, what he wanted to ask was rather obvious.

"You're banned from the Tower," he said finally - that string of words Zavala had said never really leaving his mind. "That doesn't just happen to a Guardian… even more so if they were a Vanguard's handpicked protégé." He still had trouble wrapping his head around that. He'd never planned on having one, why would he ever pin down another Hunter? Yet, she was standing right in front of him. "What happened?" he asked finally.

Her lips twitched.

"You never called me that, you know. I was always just 'your rookie'." she said offhandedly, trying to skirt the issue. He frowned at her and she let out a long breath. "I've done a lot of things the Consensus wasn't happy about. They can only excuse so many, even for someone like me. I knew what I was doing, I just…" She ran a hand over the braids in her hair, jaw clenching. "One thing just kept leading to another. Hunters don't play by the rules after all – I just took it a step too far."

Wasn't that the truth. Cayde wouldn't be all high and mighty and say he didn't do shit just because it was good for him, not others. He'd done plenty of questionable things, but he'd never been kicked out of his home.

"How so?"

Skylar was quiet for a while after that, her hand falling from her braid to play with a strand of her tied-back hair. When she finally did speak, that choking sound was worse.

"Did they bother to ever tell you how you died?" She asked finally, and Cayde flinched slightly, more out of surprise than pain. He was still getting used to that fact, just like so many other things. He gave a small shrug.

"Basics, I guess. I was on a mission and someone who used to be an ally off'd me. Betrayal in a sort I guess." He just hoped he hadn't gone down without a fight. Skylar stared at him, her face going from pained to twitching in anger for a moment before she closed her eyes, dropping her hand from her hair and moved her arm to grab at the forearm.

"I'm guessing Zavala was the one that told you?"

"I…" Cayde paused, thinking about the look the Titan had given her. "Yeah. He did."

Another long pause and he watched her shoulders drop, her gaze falling to the ground as if someone had kicked her when she was down. Cayde took a step forward, wanting to do something for her, but stopped when she spoke again.

"I don't know why I'm surprised," she admitted quietly. "He's doing everything he can to…" She trailed off and gave a sharp laugh with no humor.

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't alone on that mission Cayde," she told him quietly, her eyes slowly meeting his again. "I was with you."

Cayde's brows rose, surprise shivering through him and up his spine. A part of him could already see where this was going, but he couldn't stop himself from asking anyway.

"We went on a mission together?"

"We went on a few but… yeah that was one of them. An Awoken ally called us in to help with a prison riot where both of our groups held wanted criminals of every kind. Some of which you put there yourself, one of them being the prince of the Awoken - who had lost his mind or… well, something like that. It…it really should have been an easy job."

But clearly, it hadn't been.

"What happened?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

He knew she meant to be kind - to stop him from knowing something terrible - but it still bothered him, still made anger sizzle in his veins for a moment.

"I've had enough of not knowing things," he said flatly. She twitched at the tone, but Cayde couldn't find it in him to apologize. She swallowed hard.

"You're right," she agreed, pausing again as if she might apologize herself, but she said something else instead. "We got separated and by the time I found you, Uldern had already shot you in the chest with your own gun and taunted me as he escaped with his army of Scorn… So I… I watch you die." Her words were tired, quiet, like if saying them that way made it easier.

His own gun. Fuck. He was trying to really let that piece of info register when he realized Skylar was shaking. Cayde was unable to stop himself from taking a step towards her. "Skylar-"

"There wasn't anything I could do," she admitted, cutting him off. "I tried anyway but you were bleeding out too fast and without your Ghost... Well, we both knew it was over. I wasn't there when it counted, I wasn't there when you needed me, but I stayed with you till it was over." The devastation of those words, the weighted grief of them, made Cayde realize where that edge to her voice had come from. It was pain. The type of pain he could only relate to with how he'd felt after Andal had been killed – soaked in grief and tempered with anger. He hadn't had to watch Andal die though. How much worse would that have been? Slowly, Cayde reached out and touched her shoulder, making the first real physical contact they'd had since she'd practically knocked him down in the lab.

That action made even more sense now too.

The contact was met with a rather strong flinch from her, head cracking to the side to meet his gaze once more. Despite the pain in them, her eyes were clear. "It wasn't your fault. You know that right?" When she didn't answer him, his hand curled around her shoulder slightly. "Skylar, it wasn't your fault." He'd blamed himself for Andal too, for not finishing the job, for cheating on a bet when he hadn't even known he had. All of this – it sounded like Cayde had probably dug his own grave, and he'd left his rookie to deal with what was left behind. Skylar just sighed, closing her eyes.

"Everyone's told me that," she murmured. "Even you, before you died. I know I just… somethings never stop hurting Cayde, no matter how many times you try to heal it. Now it's just an aching scar." Truer words had never been spoken. Cayde squeezed her shoulder, but he didn't say anything else on the subject. Some things just needed time, and maybe since Cayde was here - alive - it would help.

"How does this connect to you doing something the Consensus wouldn't approve of - that the Vanguard didn't? I'm not seeing a connection."

She held his gaze, those amber eyes returning to something unreadable.

"Don't you?" She said it so plainly, that Cayde almost didn't understand the words as he stared back at her, thinking things over again. The events, the devastation on her face, the anger… anger towards what had caused the events and comparing them to his own experiences. Cayde had wanted to kill Taniks more than anything in the world at the time.

Something heavy landed in his lungs, each breath suddenly weighed down by the connection he'd come up with. Skylar must have seen it in his eyes because she nodded her head before he even got the words out.

"You killed Uldern."

"I did." No hesitation. "I hunted down every single one of his generals and then I shot him in the chest with Ace. I did it without the Vanguard's approval."

It was Cayde's turn to be silent as he unpacked that. He couldn't say that he approved. As far as he could remember, his Vanguard Dare had been to let whoever killed him take his place, but it might have changed more than just giving Ace to Skylar. Maybe he'd changed his mind… or maybe he hadn't and she didn't care at the time. He didn't approve… but he could understand why she did it. After all, he'd wanted nothing more than to kill Taniks. He'd tried twice, but he'd never been able to kill him after Andal due to being a Vanguard leader. He would have, if not for that.

"If you think I'm going to punish you or walk away for that then you're wrong." She blinked, surprised and he smiled a bit. "I'm not going to say I'm glad you did it, but I can't fault you for it either. If I'd been in your position I may have very well done the same thing." His words caused something to flicker across her face, an emotion that was too quickly gone to read as she stared at him. "I just want to make sure you know I don't blame you for what happened… or for what you did, okay?"

Skylar bit her lip again, her eyes shifting to the side and Cayde realized he hadn't let go of her yet, his hand comfortable where it sat on her shoulder as if to keep her there. Slowly, he ran it down her arm before letting it fall to her side. She sighed quietly and nodded her head.

"Then where does that leave us?"

A good question, but at least this time he didn't really have to think about it. Even if he didn't know everything, he didn't need to think it over.

"When we were in the Tower," he started off. "You kept saying the word 'were', like we were friends, and I didn't like that, but Zavala cut that conversation off before I could say anything. So, I'm going to say it now: I know I can't remember you and it… it has to hurt, but it doesn't mean we can't at least start over and try to be friends, right? You didn't think I'd want to be because of what you did, but as you can see…"

She shook her head "You know that's not everything, Cayde."

"I know, but I don't expect you to just stand there and tell me everything that's happened in the last two years. I… I just want to try, okay? Can't you at least give me that?" He was lonely, Cayde could admit to that. With Tevis dead, the only other close friend he had was Shiro… and her apparently. Despite what Zavala had said - despite her apparent blacklisting - she didn't seem like a bad person, and he had no way of really knowing unless he got to know her. She just had to agree to it.

She frowned, staring past him for a long time as she thought his request over. He knew it couldn't be easy - it should have been, but it wasn't. A lot can happen in two years, and while this was a new connection for Cayde, it wasn't easy for her. It must have been painful to think about having to start over, to not be able to rely on past events as topics. Skylar shifted her weight slightly and then blew out a breath, looking back to him after what felt like a very long time.

"Can I ask you something before I give you an answer?" her question surprised him, but at least it wasn't a no, it was more than he'd hoped for with how long she'd taken to answer.

"You can ask whatever you want. I've certainly asked you a lot of them."

She hummed quietly, her eyes flicking away, hesitating once more. Cayde felt himself tense slightly – this wasn't going to be an easy question.

"Are you angry?" When all she got in way of reply was him raising a brow at her, confused and wondering if they'd circled back to what she'd done after his death, she went on. "That we brought you back - are you upset that we did?" Her words were spoken quietly once more, soft as if she might be opening a can of worms or touching something no one was supposed to talk about. He supposed in a way, she was.

The change in subjects was jarring, to say the least.

No one had asked Cayde that. He'd been alive two weeks and not a single one of his friends had asked about how he felt being brought back, but Skylar, someone who was apparently dangerous and he shouldn't be around – had asked him. It was a jarring, and slightly painful thought process. A question Cayde hadn't let himself think about too much, and really, he hadn't had time to anyway. There was so much there - so much he'd missed that he was trying to recollect and so things like that had been pushed back.

But now that she'd asked…

"It's complicated," he relented finally. "I'm missing over eighteen years, the last years when I was alive, so there's no telling if I was at peace with my death or not. If in the end I was okay with dying or if I felt cheated out of it. I can tell you from my point of view right now that if I'd been brought back as an Exo, I'd be pretty upset - I'd be terrified, and I'd probably wish you'd left me dead. Despite what I probably always said, I never really enjoyed being an Exo. I was used to it, I accepted it, but I can't name too many Exos that would prefer to stay as such if given a choice." Even more so now that Shiro had spoken to him briefly about what being reset actually was.

DER - Dissociative Exomind Rejection - explained a lot, but it was a horror Cayde almost wished he didn't know. He'd always figured it was some random system problem, and when it got too bad, Exos simply rebooted and it scrambled their brain. That wasn't it at all, and while he was sure Exos now felt some relief at no longer worrying about that. Knowing that someone had rebooted you multiple times either because you started dying due to what earlier Exo models did, or worse, because you knew too much? Suddenly the number '6', or whatever his number really had been, didn't seem as bad as '44'.

"But you didn't come back as an Exo," Skylar pointed out, her voice still quiet but loud enough to stop him from his ever-reeling thoughts about the subject at the front of his mind. He shook his head slightly.

"That's true," he agreed. "There's a large part of me that's really… grateful for this. I never thought I'd know who I'd been, what I looked like, and while the lack of past memories as a human is troubling, I can look past that. Being human doesn't bother me as much as other things."

"Like what?"

"Like not being a Guardian," he answered without pause and watched the shock play out across her face. He gave her a small smile. "Not what you expected? Yeah, me either, but it makes sense. Being a Guardian is really all I know how to do. I'm alive again and I'm human but I'm not a Hunter. I don't have Light and… and I don't have Sundance." Hell, admitting that she was gone still hurt like he'd been hit with a Titan charge. "I'm trying to build my life as a former Guardian - working and living like one of the people I used to protect. I think that's what upsets me the most, that I'm not a Hunter, even when I was stuck in the Tower I at least still felt like I was part of something, like I could easily tell people what I did with my life."

Cayde had never thought in a million years he'd miss his job as a Vanguard leader, trapped at a table and watching the world pass him by.

"You're still a Hunter, you know."

Her words light his nerves up with surprise, his wandering gaze snapping back to meet hers. There was understanding there, it softened the hard edge that reminded him of a wolf or a bird of prey. It made him realize they were the color of liquid gold for the first time.

"I don't…"

"You were a Hunter before – that's not something you can just lose, Cayde. The Light didn't give you your dead eye aim or your tracking skills or your fighting style. That was you, that was what made you who you were and always will be, even now." For the smallest of moments, he saw a real smile as it twitched across her lips. "Once a Hunter – always a Hunter. You can wear a cloak whenever you want and no one would ever fault you for it."

Her words didn't waver - didn't lose the strength and steel to them for even a second. She believed them with every cell in her body, and as he stared at her - surprise still buzzing across his mind and inside his chest - Cayde couldn't find a reason not to believe her. It was like shedding ten pounds. It was like flipping a switch in his head. He might not be a Guardian, he might not be immortal, he might be a civilian instead of a leader now, but he was still Cayde. He was a Hunter: then, now, and until the end of time – Exo or human or whatever came next.

He swallowed, a dry lump forming in his throat, and he wondered if this was how she'd felt when he'd told her he didn't blame her for his death.

Freeing.

"I'm not angry," he said finally, getting back to her question. "I'm… confused and nervous, but also hopeful and grateful. I might be upset at times but… I'm not angry, not at you or anyone, not for giving me a second chance to live." For the first time since he's woken up, he really, truly believed every word that came out of his mouth.

Skylar tilted her head slightly, some of her bangs shifting to graze her red marking. It felt like she was searching for his face and his eyes – his soul – for any doubt, any lies, just like when he'd said he didn't hate her for what she'd done after he'd died. Cayde refused to look away. She took in a deep breath and her smile returned, stronger than before as whatever doubt she had vanished. He thought for a moment, he saw orange dance across the gold in her eyes.

"Sure." She brushed at her bangs, pushing some behind an ear, the action lasting a whole two seconds before they fell back into place. "I'm not around very much, though, so… I can't guarantee how well it will go, but I'd like to be friends again too."

Relief, potent and solid, warmed his chest and expanded outward. She'd said yes, and for some reason, he felt like he'd achieved some great reward. Her answer did leave questions though, one tumbling from his mouth before he could even think.

"Where do you go?" He might have been grounded, but as she'd said, he was a Hunter and he loved a good story. Her smile slid into a smirk and she canted her head the other direction, the barest hint of mischief like what he's seen in her down in the market with Haar.

"I work for Ikora," she said smoothly, leaving him to fill in the blanks, which he did rather quickly. So that was why she was so good at controlling her expressions, even if they had faltered a bit.

"You're a Hidden agent?" She nodded her head. "But you're not with the Vanguard?" And apparently, she wasn't his rookie anymore either. Had that happened before or after he'd died? A question for another time.

"The Hidden is an independent group from the Vanguard. Ikora and I are friends - she wasn't willing to cut ties with me like others were." Like Zavala. Like the Consensus. He tilted his head slightly, mirroring her, but didn't bring it up.

"You see a lot of interesting things?"

She let out a small snort, the beginnings of a laugh that didn't really start.

"All the time. Maybe next time I come back I'll have a good story to tell you."

Something in his chest unwound, snapping loose with a pain that felt amazing. That meant he'd see her again. She had said they could be friends but something had still held him back, still believing she might remain distant. He was wrong. She wasn't shutting him out like he'd worried she might, but she wasn't open either. It was something, more than he thought he'd get from the guarded Guardian before him. He let the grin on his face spread like wildfire and caught the shock and the following warmth in her eyes. His next words were even truer than the last.

"I'd like that."

N/A:

Ah... Progress.

When I came up with Cayde's 'human name' there was no going back. It was too humorous to even try and it just fit so I kept it.

We also got to see a good look at Skylar's alternate form for her Void Lightning/ Night Dancer, super, which is a bow with the concept that combines the idea of the Trinity Ghoul and the Anarchy, with a bit of my own spin on it.

Thanks for reading!