Here's the next chapter in our ever more angsty story.

On a side note about reviews: I appreciate every single one of your guys' thoughts, that being said, I'm not really looking for people to point out my mistakes in grammar or the like. I know you're trying to help, but... I do have a beta reader. I hope I don't affend anyone, andthank you for taking the time to read my work.

Enjoy the read!

"I was really hoping I'd never have to come down here again," Noble grumbled over the comms as he walked beside her through the dark cavernous tunnels of the Hellmouth. Skylar hummed in agreement as she paused to look around. This was new. True enough, that even after all the time she'd spent on the Moon, she'd never been through all of the Hellmouth – she'd thought she had, but apparently not. Standing in the open maw that led to Archer's Line, Skylar pressed her lips tightly together, hand clenching around the strap of her rifle.

The Hive could not hurt her.

She concentrated on the image of the burning sword half buried in bones. The Hive had their sword logic, she could turn that against them.

"The ritual site shouldn't be too much farther," Corvan said evenly, walking up next to her, his helmet turning to face her. Skylar tried not to tense. Things had been… off since her blunder with the Crota 'nightmare'. He wasn't hostile, no, the old Hunter was almost the opposite. He was being nearly supportive – not that he wasn't, but never so openly. Noble was right, Corvan was worried about her.

Maybe he had the right to worry, maybe they all did. Eris had sent them down into these caves to stop a ritual. According to her, a group of Hive Wizards were going to be conducting some kind of ritual very soon using a device known as a Crytoglyph. Some magical tool that could be used to make what her team would need to get into the pyramid ship. Skylar would never understand how the tainted Hunter knew all this stuff, but she also knew better than to question it. Eris had yet to be wrong about anything, and Skylar owed the woman her life after what had happened with Crota.

Nodding her head she led the way into the catacomb-like area with honeycomb-like paths they had to nearly crawl through. Everything was coated with Hive space barnacles and slime. Worms crawled across the ground and her team had to sneak past a group of Thrall eating some of them so that they didn't alert anyone to their presence. Despite his heavy, bulky armor, Noble was rather good at being quiet when he needed to be. Then again so was Haar, so maybe Titans weren't all loud charging bulls all the time.

As they made their way forward the green glow of their target made its appearance, becoming brighter and brighter until they could see the nearly round area and the shadows of the Wizards and Knights guarding them. Glancing up, Skylar saw a path up into a much higher vantage point and silently motioned to Noble for assistance. They dared not make a sound more than they had to, not even talking, or using their jumps. He nodded his head and crouched, then she set her foot in his interlocked hands. The big man easily lifted her into the small tunnel, and she used her hands and feet to slowly make her way up onto a rocky shelf.

She knew without having to talk to them that Corvan and Noble were now making their way to their own positions and Skylar quickly unstrapped her Whisper and went to one knee, raising the scope to her eye. The Wizards were definitely doing something sinister, a brightly glowing cylinder in the middle of the three. She had no way of knowing how far they were into their little ritual and frankly Skylar didn't have time to ponder it or ask Xol. Instead, she took a deep breath, waited another few seconds for her team, and then aimed at the head of one enemy.

She fired twice.

The flaming rounds punched through its shield and drilled into its head in a mere second, not even giving it time to scream. She moved to the next Wizard as all hell broke loose and fired again, taking out one more. She saw Corvan take down the last Wizard before she could aim and then from the corner of her view found Noble throwing flaming hammers at a group of Acolytes and Thrall that came rushing at him.

Skylar picked off a few more before she realized she needed to change sightlines. Blindly, she moved back and to the left, scoping in on another Knight. The shot went wide as the rock under her feet shattered almost instantly. Cursing, the Hunter tried to right herself as she went crashing down through the honeycomb rockwork, layer after layer till she finally hit a solid section, landing hard on her ass with a groan.

"Bad idea," she choked out.

"I'd say," Sterling spoke up finally after a long bout of being quiet. He'd been rather quiet since the nightmare event too, maybe he was mad at her. Or maybe it bothered him just as much as it bothered her. She remembered how he'd screamed that day in Crota's domain. Remember her fighting to get to him as a Thrall clutched him in its taloned hand. She'd shoved her Fate Bringer down its throat and fired before yanking him loose and—

No.

Don't go there. Not now, not ever-

"Still having some trouble with all that baggage kid?" the voice, slightly echoing in nature, had her starting at the familiar sound of it. A red ghost, an echo – two of them actually. It was startling, her hand clenching reflexively around the Whisper. She hadn't seen any of them down in this area, and now there were two of them. What a weird echoing memory.

"Not so easy to get rid of something like that," the other one stated, clearly having a conversation with the other one. That was new. "Hard to bear it all – old and new."

"True enough," the other said. "So, what do you think, little Skybird?" Both of them turned their heads and looked right at her.

Skylar froze.

That name – only one person had ever called her by that name, and he'd only said it once, right before he'd died. Staring at them, at the forms that seemed to shift into more detail, Skylar knew who they were, should have known just from their voices.

Tevis and Cayde.

No. Not possible. According to Eris, the red phantoms were the remaining echoes of those who died on the Moon. Tevis had died in the Black Garden and Cayde had fallen in the prison, not the Moon. So how, why? Skylar stood up slowly clutching her gun, her eyes never leaving the two red smoke-made echoes.

"You're not real," she said flatly, taking a small step forward. "You didn't die on the moon, you can't be here."

"But what if they could be?" the voice wasn't from either, now silent and still. It wasn't female or male either. Other. Trails of smoke like ship exhaust in the sky flowed off the two echoes, moving in a slow pace as if it were talking. Maybe it was. "What if they were still around? Life would be so much simpler that way. You've lost so many people, their deaths could have been prevented – what if that could be undone?" as it spoke, more phantoms appeared – four of them and it took her seconds to guess who they were.

Winter. Tristan. Will-7. Cassidy.

All six loved ones she'd mourned since their deaths or disappearances.

Shaking her head – they weren't real – she scowled.

"Who are you?" Skylar asked finally, the strength in her voice waning. "What do you want?"

"To help you," it purred, the tendrils stretching close like spindly fingers with long dull nails. "To give you what you need to make everything better. Wouldn't you like that, Phantom?"

Yes.

Her mind thought the word without her consent, and she knew that it was true deep down. So very deep where she'd been trying to bury her grief and her pain and still failing. She was tired. So very tired. Glancing at the still floating group of echoes, she found herself lowering her gun. She missed them, wanted everyone back. She wanted to joke with Winter and Tristan, wanted to go shopping with Cassy and speak of theories with Will-7. She missed Tevis' careful touch as he ruffled her hair and Cayde warmth and laughter. She would give anything; she'd done everything she could to make sure she never lost anyone else. Maybe whatever this was could truly help her. Just as she'd started to ponder the idea of letting it in, she realized something.

It wasn't stopping, wasn't waiting for an answer.

It kept moving forward. Alarms in her head went off, snapping her from a train of thought that could only lead to disaster. Sterling was speaking to her, another voice whispering to her, but Skylar couldn't understand the words past her own panicked thoughts. It inched past the foot mark. It wasn't waiting for her consent. This was wrong. She didn't want this – what had she even been thinking before?

She took a step back, only to find a sharp edged wall behind her. Shit.

Get away. She had to get away from whatever that was.

a dull light flashed across her vission blinding her for a mere moment as a voice spoke.

"She is mine!" The snarl was duel voiced, something she only ever heard when he laughed, but it was him. Andal – Xol – was standing there, in front of her, halting the smoke and she couldn't see his face, but she knew it was twisted into a face suited to match his tone. "You will not touch her."

"I thought I felt the presence of a Worm," the smoke replied. "You don't compare to those I have met before – you are weakened. A shell bound to the Phantom. What is your name, little god?"

"Xol," he growled out, the dual voice fading, Andal's smooth tones swallowed by the rougher one. "I have told you mine, you will answer in kind."

A laugh, and Skylar shivered, unable to stop it, unable to not clench the gun that held the entity in front of her harder.

"We have many names, but you have seen our ship… surely that helps you in some way does it not, little god." The insult was ignored this time, but Skylar was left breathless, air frozen in her lungs. Darkness. She'd almost given in to Darkness and Xol was protecting her from it.

What the hell?

"You will not have her," he repeated.

"We are stronger than you."

"Not in that form."

An eerie gray light flashed out from the edges of Andal's body, the liquid heat of it touching her skin under the armor. The voice – Darkness – shirked, the sound turning into a gurgle as if it were drowning. Then it was gone, silent. Heart still pounding in her chest, she could only stare as Xol huffed and turned around to face her. Andal's eyes were ringed green, the glow canceling out the normal color completely as he gave her a sharp, demanding look.

"Do not let the Darkness consume you – For such power is uncontrollable when forced upon or fooled into rather than taken. It is the only reason our alliance works. I won't save you again."

"Why did you this time?" she whispered, but the glow was already fading from his eyes, and he smirked, the voice no longer that of a god.

"Your hand is still favorable, Phantom – taking risks is what Hunters do, just remember when to fold and when to bluff your way into a win." Andal cocked his head. "It's what Cayde would say, don't you think?"

Skylar was rather sure the Exo had said that at some point. All she could manage in that moment though was a nod and a moment later the Hunter Vanguard was gone. The open view was empty before her. No smoke, no echoes, just jagged rocks filled with holes.

"Shit…" she whispered, pulling away from the wall.

"Skylar? Sky, are you there?" Noble's voice came through the comms suddenly, worry coloring the words.

"Yeah, I'm here, sorry I guess the comms went down for a bit when I fell."

"You fell? Never mind, can you get out? We need to go."

"I got the Crytoglyph," Corvan cut in flatly as Skylar looked up and scowled. That would be a pain in the ass to get through. "They aren't happy about it." As if his words had started something, the shrieking and snarling of the Hive became so much louder and angrier. Skylar scanned her little cage and, looking through the holes of the rock, she could see an exit through the wall. It wasn't the best idea, but it would take too long to jump up through the floors of rock.

"Get going, I'll be right behind you."

"But Sky-" Noble started and she scowled.

"I gave you an order. Now go." As she spoke, Skylar quickly summoned up her Light, feeling the shiver of Arc energy and the otherworldly feeling of Void tingle across her forearms and hands. Clenching her fist moments later the living live wire that formed two blades were in there. The bright blue and white of the core adorned with purple lightning that danced across the blades. Grimacing, she had Sterling store the Whisper and then moved to cut through the stone. Skylar wished she could have just used a grenade, but the room was too small and she wasn't willing to risk it. On the sixth strike the wall cracked and tumbled and Skylar kicked out, smashing through the wall, pieces clattering across the ground. As she ran into the main area, she spotted the tail of Corvan's scarf turning the corner.

Looking behind her, she felt color drain from her face and quickly bolted after her team. Thrall stampeded behind her, the scene so familiar to when she'd taken the essence of Crota during the war with Oryx. Her blades fizzled out and Skylar yanked two Arc bolts from her belt, dropping them at her feet as she moved. The screech of several enemies falling helped her frantic heart, but she knew there were many more.

"We're almost out'a here." Sterling told her. "Keep moving."

As if saying the words had cursed her, Skylar skidded around the final corner, slowing her momentum ever so slightly and had to lurched forward, feeling the talons of a Thrall clip the back of a boot.

Keep running.

Don't' stop.

If only she'd saved her Light for her bow instead. Rounding the last corner, she found Corvan waiting for her. He stood on top of some rocks, kneeling on one leg and as she passed through the mouth of the tunnel, she met his gaze through their helmets. It didn't matter if she couldn't see them, she felt those eyes.

Void rippled up his arms and moments later the Nightstalker bow was there and he was firing, nearly hitting her as the arrow flew past her shoulder. Skylar didn't need to look back to know her pursuers were now either dead or caught in a web unable to follow. She didn't stop moving, and as she passed the rock ledge, Corvan jumped down and kept up with her, leaving the Hellmouth together.

She was breathless and sweating by the time they met up with Noble in the wide open surface of the Moon. He held the glowing green scroll under one arm and Skylar turned to look at Corvan as she leaned on a large rock.

"I told you… to go…" she said flatly, and he crossed his arms, about to retort when she shook her head, a shiver running across her spine. "Thanks." She may not have liked being ignored, but she was grateful anyway. She'd talk to him about it later. The older Hunter huffed.

"Don't worry about it."

Nodding her head, she wished she could wipe at her forehead as she glanced once more at the artifact. "Let's get that back to Eris and then get some rest." Her suggestion got a grumble of agreement from both men as they summoned their sparrows and shot off across the cold lifeless Moon. She only hoped her little run in with the Darkness was as bad as it would get.

-Cayde-

The roaring stadium was a barely controlled chaos that fueled the battles below. If anything had stayed the same in the last eighteen years – it was that. The Crucible itself had changed a bit though it seemed. As Cayde stood at the top of the stairs down into the benches that wrapped around the large construct of what he knew to be the ruins of Mercury, and they certainly weren't on Mercury, they couldn't be, seeing as apparently with four other planets or moons were just gone — missing, thanks to the Darkness. Two teams skittered about on the field, a shield doomed over them that glimmered into being when a stray Solar hammer hit it... standard protection from an all-out battle, something else that hadn't changed.

Cayde started walking, looping around the outer edge of the stadium, headed towards what he knew to be the open box of where Shaxx ran the events. Being one of the very few people that knew he was alive, Cayde felt a bit more drawn to him as a friend than normal. All of the leaders in the Tower knew, which weren't many. Just Zavala, Ikora, and Shaxx. Besides them, all the founders of clan Hidden Wings, the Bray siblings, and Shiro knew, of course. That was it, so Cayde tended to float more towards them when he saw them in crowds. Having to lie and play the part of Sevens was still something he was getting used to.

"Ah, Sevens," Speaking of, at least he knew his second name well enough to know where to look. Shaxx had spotted him before Cayde had made it all the way to the booth. The big man waved him over, and Cayde glanced around, but because of the different name, no one really paid attention as he made his way over. "Come to watch some games?"

"Yeah. It's my day off and, well, I don't have much to do." He probably could have spent the time making his new apartment a bit more homey, but he hadn't felt like it and most of the people he knew were busy or didn't know who he was. Working as a Vanguard leader had always taken up a lot of his free time, and now that he wasn't one, most of the things he'd craved to do were out of reach. A normal human didn't really belong out in dangerous territory, at least for now. Shaxx nodded his head in understanding before gesturing to the empty chair beside him. Huh. It looked like the Titan had more guests than Cayde had expected. He took the seat without pause, glancing at the few holomonitors he had on the lower half of the view box. It gave him better ways of watching and controlling how the game was playing out.

"So…" Cayde shifted a bit. "I noticed it looked like they're on Mercury… but not." He really, really wanted to know. Shaxx chuckled, before he took a moment to press a button and shot out a line of exclamation as a Warlock decimated a group of three with their Stormcaller power. Cayde grimaced. Ouch.

"We owe that in part to Osiris and his work with the Infinite Forest. We can now simulate a play zone that we used to have to fly to, right here in the City playgrounds." Right, Osiris was alive, as was Saint-14. That was really weird… a good weird, but still weird. Add Ana into the bunch and half the legends Cayde had known were back from the dead. The idea that they could do what he was watching now though, that was amazing. It kept the Guardians safer too, no chance of enemies barging into games.

A few games passed in relative ease. Cayde would comment on a few Guardians he recognized, and Shaxx would inform him on their progress between his shouting and callouts and victory speeches. He even got a front row seat to the Game Master Thunder Crashing a team when they were spending the entire time in their spawn zone sniping the other team.

Some things never did change.

"I believe you'll find this next match a bit more interesting," Shaxx stated as the two groups from the last match existed, and beams of light started rebuilding the damaged portions of the field. Cayed raised an eyebrow at him and his friend just nodded to one of the large holomonitors that appeared at the beginning of each match to show who was playing. Shaxx opened the mic again and the former Exo knew it was time to stay quiet as he started announcing the contenders.

"Next up we have a 3v3 — a challenge grudge match."

Cayde blinked. This would be interesting, grudge matches were used as ways of solving problems between certain Guardians, either to flaunt ego or prove they were better than the other most of the time. That also meant it wouldn't be groups of randomly chosen players just waiting in queue.

"The challengers are from clan Echoing Victory!'' The screen focused on two Titans and a Warlock as they walked onto the field with a range of weapons. Cayde recognized one of the Titans vaguely as their names flashed at the screen. "They have called out three members from clan Hidden Wings!"

Wait. What?

The screen flicked to a new group of three as they walked out from the entrance. One Titan, two Hunters. Cayde didn't even need to look at the names to know who the Hunters were. He recognized Skylar's armor instantly as she stood in the center of the group, a mean-looking black sniper rifle strapped to her back. Cayde hadn't been aware she was back in town — the last conversation they'd had via comms had been a week ago and Skylar hadn't told him when she'd be back. Probably because she herself hadn't known. The Hidden weren't exactly known for being on a schedule.

He'd try to catch up with her later.

The Hunter beside her… Cayde didn't expect that at all, mostly because he'd always known the guy to be a lone wolf except for a few missions here and there. Corvan Blacksteel. A living nightmare of the Fallen from the time of the Dark Ages. The guy had almost no sense of humor and thus he'd never run or talked with Cayde for much of anything before becoming a Vanguard leader. Andal had always said Guardians weren't born like that, they were made like that over time. Cayde could only guess at what the old Hunter had seen and been through.

"Corvan… is in a clan?" Cayde murmured as Shaxx clicked off the mic while the teams did their posing and crowd pleasing. He watched as Solar lit up both Corvan and the Titan and made a ring of flames around the group and lightning – that looked oddly not-blue, but maybe it was just the flames – crackled inside of them. The Arc energy had to be Skylar's, seeing as Tevis had taught her how to Blade Dance.

"Yes," Shaxx replied easily. "Him and the people he ran with on missions. Noble is down there with him. Sadly, Will-7 was KIA a few years ago. All of the founders of that clan were originally from different fireteams that ended up working together."

"He must have really approved of them."

"Skylar has a way of bringing people together."

Skylar?

He didn't have a chance to ask as the Titan clicked the mic back on.

"Contenders, ready yourselves…. Match start!"

The other team bolted forward, the Warlock splitting off from the Titans as they took different pathways. Skylar's team glanced at each other before the Titan – Noble – took the same path as the Warlock but from the other side, having no idea he was running straight towards an enemy. Corvan ran forward, disappearing into a cloud of smoke as he headed down the straightway towards the center ahead. Skylar waited a few seconds and then jumped off to the side, skirting an open air fall on the outside of the arena.

He supposed, Cayde thought offhandedly, this was a good way of knowing just how powerful his handpicked Hunter was.

He changed his gaze to the monitors in the view box as the big ones faded away, switching to smaller ones on each side of the stadium for the viewers. Cayde barely caught it in time from one screen as the Warlock was quickly smashed into a wall by Noble, killing them instantly. The human grimaced, remembering that pain well.

He flickered his gaze to the other screen that was focused on Corvan, who was stalking the two Titans in the main open area. He drew a hand cannon just as his invisibility ran out, appearing in front of one of the Titans and making the bigger Guardian filch. He didn't have much more time than to raise his gun before the Hunter shot twice, breaking his shield and then his helmet in a quick succession of head shots. The gun glowed an eerie green and as the feed zoomed in slightly Cayde realized why. Thorn. Corvan was using Thorn — or at least a replica of it. Of course, he was.

Cayde didn't have much time to process that as the action kept moving forward, the remaining Titan snarling as he pulled a pulse rifle on Corvan, smattering him with enough shots to break his shield as the Hunter dodged out of the way. He could have run, but instead once he'd come back up from his crouch, he just stared down the Titan and appeared to say something. The gun moved to his chest and the Titan pulled the trigger once more, their shoulders tense with furry –

Something zipped across the air and smacked into the side of their helmet, leaving a black, bloody hole punched through it. A moment later, they crashed to the ground before their Ghost moved them back to a revive location. Corvan looked to the side and the feed followed, spotting Skylar as she stood in the front of the arena, right on the edge, lowering her gun from a scope in position. There was no doubt about it, that had been planned. Cayde eyed the ghostly gray aura around the gun as it faded, along with the discharge smoke from the muzzle. That was some creepy shit.

Like all matched though, nothing ever stopped moving and she moved into the main area, the Warlock from before came charging at her, shotgun in hand. Skylar flinched, letting go of her gun with one hand and moving to grab at… nothing. Her hand twitched into the air at her hip and she tensed. The holster was empty and after one heartbeat Cayde knew why: The Ace of Spades, the very gun hidden on his person. Well shit.

Dropping her rifle, Skylar jumped up as a spread of pellets shot through the air. She flipped over the Warlock, turned, and met them face to face as they wheeled around. Her right hand moved down towards her other hip while her left suddenly shot up in a fist. Cayde thought she was punching the Warlock as a last resort, the shotgun moving to shoot her in the gut, but as her hand got close, he noticed the blades attached to some kind of fancy hilt at the start of her hand from the wrist.

The blade slid into the bottom of the warlock's jaw, right where the helmet was the weakest, puncturing straight back into the neck. Cayde flinched and watched the warlock jerk in pain before suddenly stilling and falling limp against the blade. Skylar jerked her hand free and watched for a moment at the body fall to the ground in a heap before disappearing to revive, then picked back up her gun and started moving once more, a different hand cannon at the ready.

Holy fucking hand grenades.

That was… well, that wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Those look like the Lair's Handshake from that one Hunter," he commented, still stunned enough he could remember the name attached to said Hunter.

"They are similar, yes, with some tweaks and design changes, as well as the ornamental quality. All the problems from the originals have been ironed out. She calls them Striking Talons."

"You sure know a lot about them."

"Because I forged them. The armor as well."

Cayde's head snapped around, his eyes leaving the screen as the match went on. Due to the helmet, he had no idea what Shaxx's expression was, but he could guess he was smirking as he turned on the mic once more to call something out. When he was done, Cayde let his question tumble from his mouth.

"I thought you stopped forging armor." Cayde hadn't seen him touch a blacksmith's hammer since his disagreement with his teacher, Saladin.

"I don't do it often, but I owed Skylar a favor. She designed the gloves and the armor, I just made them real."

"…That had to be a rather large debt."

The big man chuckled. "You'll learn in time, I'm sure." Whatever it was, it was probably way too long of a story to tell when he needed to be free for match calls. Cayde let it go for now, taking in Skylar's armor in a new light.

The match went on, the other team slowly gaining some ground and catching up as Skylar got taken down twice by Titan charges and Corvan took a face full of shotgun pellets, while Noble got caught between a wall and a Nova Bomb. Still, Hidden Wings held the score, their teamwork stunningly good as Noble threw Corvan in the air and the Hunter killed the Warlock with a very well-aimed knife to the throat. Skylar was fast — a deadeye shot — and if Cayde was honest, a bit vicious. Something like pride warmed his chest. This was the Guardian he'd trained, and Traveler, she was one hell of a Hunter.

By the time the two-minute marker was called, Noble had used his flaming hammers to drag them out of a tie leaving two Titans, and two Hunters with the allowed single super for the match rules. The sound of a defender Titan harnessing his shield had the two Hunters moving. Skylar jumped up onto a platform and then quickly jumped out of the way of said shield. She crossed her arms and then quickly pulled them apart, arc energy crackling into existence and creating not one, but two blade dancer knives.

All Cayde could do was stare, because not only did she have two knives, but the lightning shivering up the Arc blades wasn't blue like the cores of the weapons. It was purple, the same purple as the Nova Bomb from earlier.

"That's not a Wraith variant of Nightstalker," he said flatly, the warmth in his chest ebbing away in confusion.

"No, it is not," the Titan agreed.

"Then what the hell is it?" He looked at his friend for a moment as Skylar landed and began running towards the Titan.

"Void Lightning." He rolled his shoulders, helmet tilting to look at the human. "Skylar had both Void and Arc Light before the Red War took everyone's Light. When we got it back, that was what she had. I believe you fondly referred to it as Nightdancer."

Cayde almost rolled his eyes. Yeah, that sounded like something he'd come up with. His mind raced with questions as he turned his gaze back to the fight and Skylar slid around the Titan as he swung his shield down and then flipped her knives, driving them into both his shoulders from behind. Void lightning danced across his body as he screamed and moments later he was ghosted.

"How does someone as young as her have two Light classes?" That shouldn't have been possible. There were very few Guardians that could use all three 'flavors' of Light. It took experience – years and years and centuries of it – to master them. Normally, every two hundred or so years, a Guardian might be able to control another aspect, but even then… Corvan was one of the few outside of the Vanguard that Cayde knew that could use all three. Cayde himself had only ever mastered Solar and never gotten a handle completely on Arc. It was probably why he'd let Tevis teach Skylar Bladedancer.

His handpicked rookie wasn't even a decade old.

"Is that why she's blacklisted?" he asked, frowning. Maybe that combined with her going after his killer had been enough. Shaxx huffed, probably finding that term just as insulting as Cayde did.

"No. If anything it made her more valuable. As to how she gained two Light powers, I think it would be best to hear it from her." He paused, hand hovering over the button for the mic before pulling back. "I believe you're about to see why her clan isn't very welcome in the Tower these days." He said nothing else, and Cayde was left to watch as Skylar turned and ran, her ability shorting out as a Thundercrash Titan charged in behind her and was picking up speed. Corvan had taken her spot on the platform in the center of the area and the moment she passed him — joining Noble, who was aiming at his fellow Titan with a rare Suros autorifle — the Hunter jumped straight into the air.

A gust of wind tore across the stadium, cold and sharp, making a shiver run up Cayde's spine. Power collected in both the Hunter's hands, but it didn't shine like Light — no, it was wrapped in black energy that crystallized into what Cayde could only describe as two small scythes made of ice. Corvan threw them, one after another, and the air warped, forming a tornado that stopped the Arc-cloaked Titan instantly, caging him in ice. He wasn't the only victim either — as Cayde watched, the tornado moved past the frozen Guardian and towards the now scrambling teammates who had been following them. They didn't make it, and the sub-zero wind froze them into statues just like the first. They stood as still as the stadium had become and then—

Then they shattered into dust, ghosted instantly.

The timer hit zero and Shaxx roared victory into the mic, the crowd unfreezing in moments, cheering louder than ever.

Cayde couldn't move, could hardly breathe as Skylar and Noble walked up to Corvan, the Titan clapping him on the shoulder. That had not been Light, there was no way that was Light. What in the Nine had he just seen?

"It's called Stasis," Shaxx informed him, probably seeing the look on his face. "As you've guessed it is not a gift from the Traveler."

"Then…"

"Darkness. It is a power forged by Darkness." He turned his helmet to meet Cayde's frantic eyes. "And all of the founding members of Hidden Wings can use it."

Darkness.

They all used Darkness, including Skylar.

Cayde looked back to the arena where he could see Skylar taking off her helmet as her team walked toward the exit. Noble touched her shoulder and pointed up to where he was and Skylar turned, and across the distance, their eyes met. Shock crawled along her face and Cayde knew he hadn't gotten the horror off his own fast enough.

For the first time since he'd come back, Zavala's warning about her ban and the fact that her clan wasn't very welcome in the Tower, made sense.

NA: Welp, we knew this would happen at some point... what do you guys think Cayde will do? ;)