Oh my god, guys 50+ reviews?! Never expected this to be such a big hit so fast. Thanks so much!

One again, Thank you to Qrow my beta for looking this over :)

One word of warning: this Log has some PTSD content, so if your not okay with that then welll... you've been warned.

On a side note to those who guest review... I can answer your questions that way! Please come find me on Tumblr if you have questions FeatherFang.


Log 68 - 00:32:57

The first noise on the feed is a rhythmic banging sound followed by the focused image of Cayde standing in front of a door in one of the many hallways of Guardian housing. By some stroke of luck this particular hall is vacant of curious eyes and ears, leaving the Vanguard leader to openly glower at the door in front of him.

"You sure she's in there?" he grumbled, looking at the screen. The image flickers as Sundance blinks once.

"Yes. Sterling's signal is behind the door meaning his guardian is as well."

"Guess it's a good thing you can have Ghosts pair with each other for easy com action," he grumbled to himself, raising his hand again and knocking once more. "Sky? Come on, open the door!" His plea goes unanswered again as two minutes tick by on the clock, but after a moment the sound of the dead bolt sliding back is heard and Cayde takes that as a sign and turns the handle when the door doesn't open right away. Sterling is waiting to greet him on the other side, his partner nowhere to be seen in the entryway. The small AI's angular pieces are drooping slightly as he blinks at the Exo.

"She's passed out on the window seat," he informs Cayde quietly as he shuts the door behind him. The southern accented Ghost is right, on the far side of the room, tucked into the three foot ledge in front of the only window in the room is Skylar. Her back is pressed against the left side wall, knees bent in front of her feet on the padded seat. Her head is forward, cocked down in a way that's sure to cause a sore neck.

Sundance pans the camera as Cayde looks around the room. It's a mess again, sheets half torn off the bed, and pillows on the floor. There's a few empty liquor bottles on the desk with papers littering the area around it and empty glasses dotting different surfaces. The Exo curses under his breath when he spots the mirror - or what's left of it - on the left wall. It's spiderwebbed with large shards missing from it and lying haphazardly on the floor below. Some of them are standing up like jagged teeth in the carpet, just waiting to get stepped on. Cayde walks closer, inspecting it and so the camera zooms in as well. The edges of glass where the point of impact occurred are flecked with brown red droplets and once more the hunter grumbles something under his breath.

"Was she drinking again?" he asked quietly, turning to look at Sterling. The Ghost hovers closer to him, back piece spinning slowly.

"No, but she hadn't slept in a while so I think she just fell asleep. Been like that a few hours now."

"Huh, and she didn't wake up when I knocked? Yeah, she must be tired." He eyed the AI for a moment, watching as it bobbed slightly in the air. "Speaking of, how long has it been since you recharged? I mean I know Ghosts don't have to do much when they're Idle like you have been, but still."

There's a long pause in between his question and Sterling's answer as Skylar's partner blinks, thinking. Around the three minute mark he seems to have one.

"I've been too worried to leave her alone while she's like this." Loyal to a fault.

"Not since she got out then?" The silence he receives is answer enough and Cayde chuckles quietly and waves a hand. "You're a good partner for her Sterling. Still, she'd be upset if she was in the right mindset. Take a rest will you, I'll keep an eye on her for a few hours."

The Ghost seems surprised by that, hovering closer. "Are you sure?" He floats backwards as the Exo waves him off again.

"Course I am, she's in good hands."

Sterling stares at him for a few moments before he seemed to give in and sigh, floating over to the desk and landing there. After a few moments his eye's green light goes from constant, to blinking, showing that he is indeed in charge mode. When five seconds have passed on the clock, assured the AI is down for the count, Cayde sighs as well, turning to look at his Rookie before slowly walking over. With the feed closer to her it's easy to see what the last few weeks have done to the hunter. The dark circles under her eyes are visible even through the blue marking, and the angles of her face are slightly sharper due to lack of nutrition. She's not keeping up appearances either, wearing what can only be assumed to be night clothes, a pair of sweatpants, a long sleeved undershirt, and nothing on her feet. Her hair is messy, longer than normal, and greasy like she needs a shower.

"Damn it Sky," Cayde whispered, shoulders slumping. "How am I supposed to help you when you won't even help yourself?" There's clear worry in his voice as he walks a few feet and grabs a discarded blanket off the floor. He shakes it out as he turned back around but as the camera refocuses on the young woman it's easy to tell things have changed, if only slightly. Her solemn face has gone taunt, lips pulled down into a grimace making the white scar on her lower lip more visible. Her hand curled into a fist on her lap and suddenly her breathing became uneven.

"The hell?" Cayde murmured, dropping the blanket at her feet and reaching out to her shoulder.

"Cayde I'm not sure-" Sundance' warning is too late and the camera picks up the human's eyes snapping open the second the Exo's hand grips her shoulder. The image blurs then as the Ghost suddenly has to move out of the way because both hunters are moving, Skylar nearly tackles Cayde onto the ground in seconds. When the feed refocuses the Exo is indeed on the ground, back pressed firmly to it with Skylar straddling him. He has his arm raised, the guard on it turned and blocking her hunter's knife that had apparently been on a side holster towards the window.

"Holy handgrenades! Skylar it's just me!" Cayde nearly shouts and the feed zooms in on them both from the side. Skylar's face is contorted in fear and anger, her arm bearing weight against his own still. She's not there, not completely, and from how hard she's breathing it's clear what she was seeing was bad. Her mentor seems to realise that, eyes shifting over her face before meeting her own. "Sky, it's Cayde," he tried again, softer this time, using his free hand to reach up and gently touch the side of her face. She flinches instantly at the contact, blinking and focusing her eyes and then widening them in recognition. Her arm pulls back quickly after that, the knife clattering to the ground next to him and a tremor climbing up her spine. It's been only seconds but she quickly pieces together what happened and suddenly she looks sick.

"Cayde?" she whispers, voice wavering. His hand tries to press more firmly to her face as if to reassure her but she blanches and suddenly Blink Steps. The feed widens again, finding Skylar having smashed her back into the window seat's lower half, butt on the floor, knees pulled up as if she was trying to be as small as possible. It looked like she jumped backwards blindly, trying to get away from Cayde. The vanguard sat up instantly, concern flashing over his mechanical face in the form of eye movement and jaw angling. Skylar was just staring at him horrified, her body trembling. "I d-didn't..." she trails off and Cayde moves to a crouch, not bothering to pull his hood back up.

"I know you didn't Sky. It's alright, I'm fine," he assures her but she just shakes her head.

"It's not-t.. I..." One of her hands was in her hair, fingers tense, nails more than likely digging in. "What is wrong with me? I don't-I can't..." Her breathing is turning to hyperventilating as her mind shoved facts in front of her. Cayde seems to realise something was seriously wrong and quickly lowers himself back to his knees.

"Nothing is wrong with you," he said softly, inching forward. "You just had a nightmare and I startled you. Hell of good reflexes, not that I expect anything else."

"I attacked you!" she snapped, lip shivering as she looked down at her legs as if they could help. "I could have..."

"But you didn't," Cayde points out and by now was in front of her, inches between her pulled in legs and his own which land on either side of hers, creating a point of contact on the sides of their feet. "I know you'd never hurt me on purpose Sky." He reaches out and touches her cheek then moving his fingers under her chin to get her to look at him. There are tears in her eyes, unshed but there, and Cayde had never seen his Rookie in such a state. Still, he doesn't point it out, instead he gave her a small smile. "Come on, you need to calm down, try to take a deep breath for me." He takes one on his own and it's not clear if he's doing it to demonstrate the action or to keep himself calm.

Skylar draws in a shaking breath and then let's it out slowly, closing her eyes as Cayde moves his hand back to the side of her face. He uses his other hand to pull her own from her hair and ignores how some of the nails are rimmed red, holding it between them like an anchor as she does as she's told. He moves his thumb slowly over her cheekbone in rhythmic motions, giving her a set rate for her breathing and he stays quiet and still as he just waits.

Fifteen minutes pass without a word between them, just Skylar trying to calm her breathing and lessen the tremors in her body. Once it's calmed, the shivers minimal, Cayde pulls his hand from her face, but keeps the other around her's. When she speaks, her voice is even, but strained as if she had to focus on not letting it crack. "I think… I think Crota broke something," she admits quietly, opening her eyes to look at her mentor, her friend, her lifeline. "I can't keep living like this, I'm so tired of it." It's an admission that seems to shame her and she looks away from him, biting her lip. Cayde simply tilts his head and squeezes the hand he's holding.

"Maybe he did," he tells her quietly, and she stiffens a bit but he goes on. "But broken means this can be fixed Sky, and often things are better than before." He shifts, using his free hand to grab at something at his waist. "Just look at this." It's then that it becomes clear that his extra hoster - the one he normally keeps empty just incase he finds something he likes out on the field - is occupied.

As he pulls it out, the handcannon looks familiar, that same copper color, the same barrel and laser sights that are the Fatebringer's frame. He holds it out for her to look at and indeed it is the Fatebringer but it's different. The loading chamber, grip, hammer and entire top of the gun have been replace with a sleek black metal. It's reminiscent of Cayde's own Ace of Spades, even more so when it became clear that on the gun's grip, near the top next to the trigger is a copper embossing stamped on it in the shape of a heart.

Skylar just stares at it silently, looking confused and stunned all at once, her brows pulled together. Realising she wasn't going to speak Cayde went on without missing a beat as if what he's holding doesn't really mean quite a few things. "I mean, look at your Fatebringer, Tevis said it was done for but I wasn't buying it. It just needed some time and care, a few new parts, some fresh paint and it's a whole new gun." As if to show off he quickly twirled the gun with one finger by way of the trigger much like he does with his own gun. "I'm thinking of calling it..." he pretended to think for a moment, humming and Skylar blinked, her mouth twitching because she noticed what he was doing. "What was I thinking? Oh right! I'm going to call this 'The Fated Heart', cause you know, you nearly gave me a damn heart attack." He nods to himself and then flips it around with one hand, holding it out to her by the end of the barrel so she can take it. "What do you think Rookie?"

Skylar presses her lips into a thin line before finally reaching out to take it from him. Her hand is shaking slightly still, the remainders of a panic attack still causing fingers to twitch involuntarily. She grips the handle solidly, pulling it to her and resting it on her raised knees, her thumb running on the length of it. "I thought I lost this… I ran out of ammo and ended up shoving the thing into a Thrall's mouth..." she trails off, her voice soft and pained, mind lashing out again with nightmare like memories. Cayde squeezes her hand again and she looks back to him. "Why did you rebuild it?" It's a question he already answered but Cayde nods his head anyway. There's more to it than what he's said, and she knows it - knows him.

"I knew it was important to you, nearly as important as the P&T. I knew it was a reminder of when things went right for you and I thought having it would help with what had gone wrong." He clears his throat slightly, golden light flickering somewhere in this throat. "Some of it was just ruined so I gave it some of my own flare, Banshee thought it was silly but hey, we hunters got to look good." He watches her nod slightly at his answer, her fingers tracing over the heart impression there.

"I like the name," she said suddenly. "It's a reminder..." She repeats his words, a small tentative smile twitching on to her lips. Cayde returns the gesture seeming relieved and gives a short laugh.

"Somehow I knew you'd like it," he mused and fluidly got to his feet, though his hand still held her's and he gave it a small tug. "Come on Sky, let's get you cleaned up and fed. Hunters aren't meant to be cooped up like this." His words get her moving after a few moments and she uncurls to her feet. Cayde releases her hand and turns, apparently trying to get out of her way but the amber haired human has other ideas.

With one hand clutching her new gun, she reaches out with her newly freed one and curls it around the side of his upper arm to stop him. "Cayde," she starts and pauses before simply stepping forward and resting her forehead against the center of his back. Cayde twitches, eyes shifting to the side as if he can see her without turning around. He doesn't say anything, but he seems comfortable with the placement and the way Skylar is clinging nearly screams she needs the contact. "I just..." she swallows and closes her eyes, letting out a shallow breath. "You being here means a lot."

Her words somehow feel like replacements for what she wanted to say and the way she bites her lower lip once finished and nearly buries her face in his cloak only amplifies it. Cayde hums quietly, his bright eyes somehow softening and then closing, a smile on his face lit up by the quiet sound he makes. "Nowhere I'd rather be."


Isn't 'Holy handgrenades' just perfect for Cayde? :)

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