Maria was surrounded by many enemies, by many Hive, and she shot them each with a bow she didn't recognize, but something told her that it was nearly brand new and she'd only used it once. When she turned around, she saw a giant crystal, an Awoken Queen, and a faceless Titan inside of a purple bubble, but she didn't waste time by staring. They didn't see the trouble they were in, trouble she saw behind them. A huge shadow towered over them with a formless body, but the head of a Hive Knight. She acted swiftly, going out from the safety of the Titan's bubble shield, and grabbing a hive launcher as she slid across the floor. The enemy was large, but one shot had killed it. It was done.

The Titan carried a formless body, the crystal and the Queen had disappeared, and she was behind the faceless Titan, but it felt like she walked in quicksand. When she looked down, she saw she had been wounded on the left side of her chest and the spot became dark, but she hid it with her hand. Still, the world tilted, and then she was on the ground of the Tower, looking up at Ghost, who scanned her worriedly. She couldn't tell if he spoke or not, but she felt her mouth move to answer him. The humming in her ears wouldn't stop. "Rise up as one, march towards the sun..." She could hear the little boy singing again. And then she was blinded by a light, and she was surrounded by dark room with only one door, and light peeked out from beneath it.

Maria turned the knob only to find it locked. On the other side of the door, the voice asked, "Devotion inspires bravery. Bravery inspires sacrifice. Sacrifice…"

She had heard the voice before, it whispered, barely even heard above the humming, and yet it was clear as day to her. "Devotion inspires bravery. Bravery inspires sacrifice…Sacrifice…Why don't you tell me? What do you think sacrifice ends with?"

"Sacrifice leads to death."

She answered, "Yes, but not always. Sacrifice can also inspire others to help those who need it most."

"And what is it you have sacrificed?"

Behind her she could hear children playing-no it wasn't just children; it was her siblings. She was so far apart in age compared to them, she would watch them as they chased each other with bugs and frogs in the yard, and a tear rolled down her cheek. When she turned, however, she saw herself sitting with the hatchlings and adolescents, telling them about her mother.

The voice asked, "What are you willing to sacrifice?"

"My mother sacrificed herself for a war she believed in, because she wanted to protect what was left of the innocence." The image began to fade.

The voice was long silent. "Humanity must have protectors… Will you stand with me?"

"Yes," Maria turned the knob once more, and the light was bright…


When Maria woke up, she was in a cold sweat. She abruptly sat up, and whatever hatchlings that had gathered around her in her room scrambled away. She looked up at Ghost, his top point lowered in worry.

"What?" She stood and stepped outside into the cold air, which chilled her to her core, but she was hardly bothered by it. "It's hot in there."

"No…it's the same temperature…are you okay?"

Maria smiled. "Yeah, always. Come on, we have to report today." Maria was quick to get to the Tower and make her report to Ikora. As she came out after her report, she saw Crow trying to quickly make his way to the H.E.L.M. "Hey, Crow!" She called and ran over, nearly leaving Ghost behind.

Crow stopped and turned to her, his face a mask of what he was thinking.

"You're a hard guy to track down, you know?"

He smiled amusingly, "Am I? I've heard differently." He folded his arms.

"Yeah, I never see you anywhere." She put a hand on her hips. "And now I'm hardly at the Tower so it's impossible to know where you'll end up."

Crow chuckled and nodded his head toward Ikora's office. "Making a report today? How's House of Light settling in?"

"They're settling in well, considering…Lakshmi isn't making it easy for them, though." She sighed. "I feel so bad for them. They're incredibly nice." She watched a pair of Eliksni, one with a hatchling strapped to its shoulder, talking to a Hunter. "But after your brash stunt…"

"Brash?" Crow laughed.

"Glint told me you aren't supposed to be wandering around the way you were that night…still, I'm glad you did. I'm a little less than intimidating," she tucked her hair behind her ear, "there wouldn't have been much I could've done to stop them." From the shadows of a corner, she could see the glares the two of them got from a fireteam. She shook her head and turned to Crow again. "Hey, since you can't get out of the Tower-and let's face it I have you a bit cornered here-how about I just bring some drinks here?"

"You don't have me cornered." Crow laughed.

"That's really not the point here, Crow, I'm really going out on a limb here asking you for a night of drinks and…well I dunno, what else could we-"

The Hunter of the fireteam began to yell out vulgar terms, interrupting Maria's train of thought. "What's their problem?" Maria muttered and approached the fireteam, Crow calling out for her to ignore them. "What? Ya'll got a problem?"

"Maybe!" The Hunter stood.

Maria stopped halfway. "Come on then. Be the Guardian that you are and come over here and say what you just said to my face."

At first nobody moved, and just when Maria was about to turn around the Hunter came over and met her at the halfway point. In a low voice he said, "Don't you know who that is?"

Maria gave him a dumb look, "Yeah….do you?"

The Hunter scoffed, "Of course I do!"

"Great, glad we could clear that up." She turned to walk away.

"Maria!" Ghost yelled.

She turned and barely had time to duck away from his punch. "Damn, okay, sorry, mr. Hunter," now people started to stop and stare as she and the Hunter circled each other, "I thought I was the only one here with the crush on Crow, but by all means if you wanted to ask Crow out on a date, be my guest."

The fire in the Hunter's golden-brown eyes became more intense. Another swing and she jumped back, nearly into a Titan. Now a crowd had gathered. "Come on, my sister punches better than you and she's eleven!" She ducked from another punch, but the crowd that gathered was leaving her little room to dodge. She tucked and rolled, much like she had seen other hunters do, so she was behind him, and she kicked behind his knees, forcing him to the ground. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and shoved her knee in his back and leaned onto him with her whole bodyweight to keep him on the ground, though she knew this would soon be ineffective.

She was blinded by a pain in the back of her head, and darkness surrounded her peripheral vision. Her head hit the solid ground, hearing something crack within her ear. The wind was knocked out of her with a kick to the stomach, and all she could do was curl into a ball and hope that they would stop. She couldn't scramble up. She had no breath to breathe properly. She coughed but each attempt to suck in air would bring on another punch or kick. She couldn't see where the punches and kicks came from. She could only bring her hands up to her head.

She barely heard Ikora's voice, and she flinched at the gentle hand put on her shoulder, but she finally gasped for breath and could hear the voices around her.

"She didn't start this!" Crow yelled.

"She did start this!" The Hunter screamed.

"Little angel," Maria finally looked up at the Titan, at Saint, who breathed out a sigh of relief, "come, stand." He helped her up. She choked out the blood she had inhaled. Her nose bled, and she barely felt her feet on the ground. The world tilted, forcing her to lean her whole weight on Saint.

Ikora turned and looked down at her disapprovingly. Zavala stood next to her with the same disappointed look, but Maria didn't cave under Zavala's eyes. It was Ikora she worried about disappointing. The crowd had quickly dispersed with their presence. Ghost scanned her body, and said, "She'll be alright once the bleeding stops. Mild concussion to her head, she should be watched closely."

Zavala turned to Crow and the fireteam, "My office, now."

Once they had left, Maria said to Ikora, "They were mocking us…me and Crow."

"So, you started a fight?" Ikora shook her head.

"I didn't throw the first punch!" She choked again on the blood and finally wiped the blood from her nose, though it was quickly replaced with a new stream of bood.

"You got lucky this time, Maria…" She looked out over the city toward the Traveler, and with a heavy sigh she said, "Go back to the Botza District…don't come back to the Tower until this whole thing blows over. Saint, I want you to make sure she actually goes there."

"So, your answer is to punish me?"

She whipped around to look at her again, "This isn't a punishment. A punishment would be reassignment, which I should be doing!"

Maria flinched at her tone, and Ikora had to take a deep breath.

Saint gently pushed her forward, and whispered in her ear, "Do not push her today."

Maria limped, holding her stomach.

"Humanity must have protectors… Will you stand with me?" The voice rang in her head, as if it were just there beside her.


Ghost had to ask several of the Fallen to keep an eye out on her before he found someone willing to keep a close eye on her. She had nearly fallen asleep several times, but the obedient Eliksni would quickly wake her.

"How long do I have to stay awake?" She whined, now surrounded by a group of hatchlings and adults, the adults weaving what Ghost had come to know as 'eggcloth'.

"Just another hour, I think."

Maria sighed again, and slowly braided her hair on her left side. The hatchlings still kept their eyes on Ghost, but they had learned quickly that he kept out of reach. Unlike Glint, who loved the attention, Ghost could've cared less about the attention. In fact, he preferred they all pretended he wasn't really there.

"Hey Ghost…" Maria was looking up at the Traveler now. The white spherical body reflected brightly in her eyes. "Hypothetically, if I were to die soon…would you check me for Light?"

Ghost's top point pointed downwards. Where was this sudden question coming from? Even back in their early days, she'd never posed a question like this before.

"Would you…revive me, if you could?"

"Of course, that's what we set out to do. Why are you asking me this?"

Maria shook her head. "Just a dream I had…it kind of freaked me out." The sky was still dark, and Ghost could tell Maria longed for the sun again.

"Nothing is going to happen to you."

A small Eliksni clutching several hatchlings scrambled over and started to say something to the others so quickly that Ghost nearly missed translating it all.

"What's going on?" Maria demanded.

Ghost answered hauntingly, "The Vex are coming…but how did they get into the city?"