A big thank you to my Beta, Qrow, for being such an awesome sound board for this chapater. To any who took the time to review as always, I thank you as well and please keep doing so. I love hearing what you think!
Happy Halloween guys!
Entry Log 67 - 00:15:54
The Vanguard room is a place of movement today as the screen flickers on. Guardians are milling in and out, Frames shuffle around the room upgrading equipment, and all three leaders are gathered around the table engrossed in their work. Cayde is shuffling through a handful of papers, bright eyes scanning over each one before putting them into one of three piles in front of him. He pauses on one page, seeming to read over the contents twice before humming and dispensing it into the right pile.
"You know I think I like this Variks character," he muses to no one in particular. "He's a cunning bastard that's for sure. Though, I'm getting quite a few complains from Guardians worried about his intense interest in their Ghosts."
"Same here," Ikora answers looking up from her own papers. She looks amused and curious all at once, a soft smile playing across her dark skin. "Do you think we should do something about it?" her question has the Exo scratching his head through the hood of his cloak in thought. Zavala is briefing a team of three titans at the moment, attention elsewhere. Finally, Cayde shrugs and shakes his head.
"Naw, I think the Fallen is just yanking their cords. If he actually tries to take one, then we'll do something about it," he says finally and after a moment the warlock agrees with a nod and goes back to work. Cayde starts to follow suit, despite his fidgeting, but as he looks back down his gaze catches and the camera pans to Z coming into the room. Cayde sets his papers aside and turns to greet his fellow Golden Gun user.
"About time you got back," he teases. "What happened? The Fallen slash the tires on your ride?" He gets a roll of dark eyes at the comment and Z holds out his hand, his red shelled Ghost floating forward to the small interface console on the table to drop off a debriefing.
"This House of Wolves plays dirty but they're not that stupid. Veriks has some new cellmates for his jail and we have some new intel on what's going on. Skolas got away but he'll show up soon and then I'll kick his damn ass and give him to the queen."
"Always good to hear," Cayde muses, ignoring the clear annoyance in Z's voice at losing his target. Cayde picks up a paper from one of the piles looking it over for a moment. "While we're waiting for him to show up mind looking into something for me?" He waits a second and the hunter nods his head. "I've been hearing some rumors about a thought to be lost piece of Ahamkara gear being seen on Mars. Apparently it's attached to a Gate Lord somehow. " Looking to the human he sees curiosity light his face and smirks. "Want a crack at it before I post it to the public?"
The paper is out of his hands and in Z's in seconds. "Hells yeah," he answers, already scanning over the paper. His Ghost does the same, blinking rapidly at it before disappearing from sight as Z stashes the paper in a pocket. "Thanks Cayde."
"No problem. You've got three days before the message goes out, so best get going," he encourages. "And bring back a good story eh?" He gets a nod in reply but the hunter doesn't go running off like expected, instead he seems to hesitate and Cayde tilts his head slightly, resting a hand on the table. "What's up?"
"I just," Z starts and then stops before sighing and looking his leader in the eyes. "Have you heard from Sky? She hasn't been answering my calls and she didn't come to the door but my Ghost says she's in there." He rubbed his neck frowning. "I'm worried, every one is." It's not a surprising question and Cayde nods his head thoughtfully, eyes shifting to the papers on the table.
"She's still on medical leave so I haven't seen her much. We both know she has a lot to sort through, she just needs time." It sounded like something rehearsed yet honest, He's trying to seem professional on duty when his connection with his rookie isn't really that at all. Z shuffled a bit where he stood but relented.
"Yeah, alright. Thanks again," he said in parting, not sticking around to breach the subject. The room was too full of eyes and ears for such a personal subject and Z must have known Cayde couldn't tell him much either way. Once he'd disappeared up the stares, the camera pans back to the view of the table once more and the Exo let's out a quiet sigh, resting both hands on the table.
"She's really not doing well, is she?" Ikora asks after a few minutes have passed on the clock. Cayde glances at her then shakes his head. "Has her Ghost been reporting her status?"
"Yeah, not much has changed since last I saw her," he answers, shuffling through the remainder of his paperwork. "She's not sleeping much and she's drinking more than she should." Cayde's voice is worried, the confidence gone from it as he places papers into their respective piles. "Apparently she smashed her mirror a few days ago."
"She's not the first Guardian to react this way," Ikora pointed out. "I've seen my fair share of those who were never the same, but I've seen just as many come back stronger from it." She brushes a hand over the top of an old leather bound book, fingers tracing the lettering on it. "I for one hope that she is one of the latter."
Cayde grimaces, swallowing down a retort that isn't needed and goes back to the papers for a while. He's distracted and agitated though, barely looking over each paper before placing it on the table. Finally, when the last one is out of his hands he looks to the warlock once more who is now reading from the same book.
"Are you sure you can't help her?" he asked quietly. Normally him asking for her help would have sparked a playful teasing match, but Ikora seems to realise this isn't one of those times. She pauses in turning a page and looks at him sincerely.
"I would help her if she would allow it Cayde but if she isn't even responding to friends, to you, I doubt she would listen to me," she points out, flipping the page.
"She's not ignoring me," he grumbles quietly. "She's just not super giving in information. It's almost like she's a different person, like that burning flame in her got stomped out."
"Well, then maybe you need to relight that flame," the human suggests and Cayde frowns at her. If he'd had eyebrows, they surely would have been furrowed. This causes a small smile to return to the woman's face. "Everyone has a reason for why they come back Cayde, with the horror we face we have to have an anchor to hold us steady. Take Skylar's friend Winter for instance. Once she found out that her and Zavala were family, she started performing better in the field. When I asked, she told me she couldn't stand the idea of leaving him alone again now that he'd found new hope. Now she's one of my agents of The Hidden."
Both friends glance to their commander and fire team leader. The bald Awoken is still speaking with his charges, unaware that the topic had turned to him. "I'd forgotten that the bookworm was Mr. Wall's sister. Her Ghost found her in the same ship as him right?"
"Yes, with a few decades separating them, the only reason they knew of their shared past was because one day she dropped the pin that both of them had been wearing on that ship." Ikora answered, drawing Cayde's attention again. "My point is, from what I could see Skylar has always come back. While her reasons for that aren't known by myself personally, I do know she always came straight to you every time. If anything Cayde, I would think you're the one who could set her straight."
She didn't say it outright, didn't need to. It was easy to read between the lines and from Cayde's expression he seemed to understand. You're the reason she comes back. His eyes flickered from the papers to Zavala and then to Ikora again, his hand coming to rest on the Ace of Spades. Then he turned and started towards the stairs.
"I need to check on something with Banshee," he informed her, and for once no one called after him.
-Wiggles eyebrows-
:)
Come bother me on Tumblr FeatherFang! I'd love to answer any questions you have.
Please Review!
DROH
