I Remember You

"I remember something. From before, I mean."

Hunter David Ryn pulled back from the scope on his sniper rifle and blinked to refocus. He had been so intent on sighting his target that he had missed whatever was just said. Glancing down from his perch in the tree, he looked to the source of the voice. Titan Lee Christoph was leaning heavily against the trunk, arms crossed over his broad chest. His right index finger was tapping against his left arm, a sound that David had managed to let fade into the background when the Titan had started doing it twenty minutes ago, yet now it drew all his attention.

How has he not drilled a hole in the metal yet, the Hunter thought before speaking up. "What did you say?"

"Really? How do you survive in the wild with that lack of awareness?"

"Well, I'm not usually trying to drown out the sound of someone banging away on armor the whole time I'm trying to take a shot."

"Banging on...?" Lee noticed his own tapping, which he had been doing without being aware, and stilled his hand. "Better?"

"Much," David replied. He slung his rifle over his back and dropped down to the ground. "Now, what was it you said?"

"I said," Lee began, pushing off the from the tree and straightening up, "that I remembered something from my old life."

"Are you sure?" The Hunter asked.

"Of course I'm sure. How would I not be sure?"

The two men began walking back toward the Tower. They'd been patrolling the area just outside the City walls for hours without seeing anything of interest. Time to call it a day and let someone else stare at nothing.

"I don't know," David shrugged. "Maybe it was a dream or something you imagined."

"Ha, jokes on you," the Titan replied, "I don't have that good of an imagination. I am serious about remembering something, though."

"What was it you remembered and when?"

"It was after our last Crucible match a couple days ago," Lee said. "And what I remembered was a woman. My wife."

"You? Married?" David shook his head. "Definitely a dream then, I can't picture a woman going through with that."

"Looks who's talking. I don't see women throwing themselves at you."

"I'm a Hunter," David said. "I'm alone most of the time by choice."

"Just keep telling yourself that," the Titan replied.

The Hunter sighed, "We're getting off track. Your supposed memory?"

"Yeah. So, we were in the Crucible and I got fried by that Stormcaller."

"I remember. Put the nail in the coffin for that match."

"Right. Anyway," the Titan continued, "she electrocuted me, and I had this flash of memory. Just a few moments, but as vivid as anything I've ever seen with my own eyes. I was holding hands with a woman. Dark hair, brown eyes. She turned to me, and I took hold of the fingers of her other hand, and I clearly saw a large ring on her finger. She smiled, and then Vlad revived me."

"A flash as you died?" The Hunter was skeptical.

"It's a thing," Lee said defensively. "I've been looking into it ever since. There's a whole group of Warlocks that are dedicated to attempting to study what happens and things we might see when we die. Thanatonauts."

"You? Listening to Warlocks?" David shook his head. "Now I know you're losing it."

"Well, wait until you hear the next part," Lee said, stepping in front of his companion to stop his progress. "With the match ending, the Warlock took off her helmet and it was her."

"Her who?"

"My wife!" The Titan snapped. "The Warlock was the woman I saw in the memory. Somehow, the Traveler revived us both."

"You know how unlikely something like that would be, right?"

"Of course. But it happened."

David stopped and stared at his friend, wishing they were in the Tower with their helmets off so that he could see his eyes. There was a note of desperation mixed with manic energy in the Titan's voice, and it was a sound that he was not used to hearing from the larger man. This had really gotten to him.

"You've probably just seen her around the Tower before and subconsciously recalled her face when you heard her name in the match," the Hunter said.

"I should have known you wouldn't believe me," Lee muttered. "I should have gone to a Warlock. Forget the walk, I'm just going to transmat back. Give you your alone time you love so much."

A black shape appeared near the Titan then. Vlad, his Ghost, making an appearance. There was a shimmer and both Ghost and Guardian disappeared from sight.

"You should probably follow him," his Ghost, Akall, commented over internal comms.

"I know," the Hunter sighed. "Give him a couple minutes to settle down and then transmat me to the Tower."

David continued his trek toward the Tower in silence, wondering how to broach the subject without setting Lee off again. It was very rare for a Guardian to remember much of their old life, and something like this made him think that was probably a good thing. What good did it to do to remember those long dead? Lives you may have lived that were now gone forever?

"Transmatting," Akall said eventually, and the Hunter felt the old sensation grip him, then release him again in the Tower.

"Where is he?" David asked his Ghost.

"Unknown. Vlad is not responding to any queries."

The first place David decided to look was the Tower bar. Lee did not drink often, but the kind of mood he had been in when he left could have pushed him to it. He was not there, however. The next place he checked was the Titan's quarters. As he approached the room, he heard the strains of an acoustic guitar faintly floating through the door. He knocked.

"Go away!" a voice called from inside.

"Not gonna happen," David replied.

"Fine," the voice said, then the Hunter heard something very muffled that sounded like, "Vlad, get the door."

David stepped inside to find a visibly upset Lee sitting in a large chair made of leather or a reasonable facsimile thereof. The Titan had stripped off the top half of his armor, but still wore his gr eaves and mark. Across his lap was an old guitar that they had found on patrol years ago. Lee had taken to it instantly and figured he must have been a musician of some sort in his old life.

"I saw her," he said by way of introduction.

"Who?" The Hunter knew who he meant, but asked anyway.

"The Warlock," Lee said, letting his fingers play a lonely melody on the guitar strings. "When I transmatted in, I headed for the bar, feeling like I needed a drink. I walked in and she was there in a booth toward the back of the room. With another Guardian. I had a sudden thought to go talk to her, tell her about my memory..."

"Please tell me you didn't do that," David interrupted.

"No, I didn't," the Titan replied, his hand coming to a stop and resting against the strings. "The other Guardian was a man. She... she kissed him. And not just a quick peck. They looked so happy sitting there, I couldn't do anything to mess that up."

Lee took up his strumming again, and David stood near the door, unsure of what to do or say.

"She wouldn't have remembered me anyway, would she?"

"No," Lee answered gently. "She probably wouldn't have."

The Titan made a sound in the back of his throat and closed his eyes, losing himself in the music he was coaxing out of the stringed instrument. There was something indescribably sad in the tune. After a few moments, Lee made his way over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder.

…

AN

Thanks to Corbyl UnDromeil and Delta prime2 for the story favorite and Misuto Schiffer and soaronwingslike for the story follow! Further thanks to Corbyl UnDromeil for the author favorite and follow!

A lot of likes and favorites to catch up with there as it's been a while since I've updated this one. There are a few reasons I stepped away, and then I've come back to fanfiction with a sequel to "A Not So Simple Patrol" called "When the Sun Winds Down" that I hope you will check out if you haven't.

This was always a sporadic update, only working on these when I got a spark of inspiration for a story idea. This is one I've been toying around with for a while, but wasn't sure I had enough to make a full entry. Hopefully it was worth the wait.

Daydreamer B.A – My one an only review on Guardian Angel. Thanks. :) It was just going to be a generic Guardian at first, then I realized Saint would be perfect. As for Shin... eh... there's an exception to every rule, right? Lol

Guest 24 – Thanks for the review. Sorry for making you cry, but good to know that it had an impact. If it makes you feel better, just got a new dog in July. 2 month old (at the time) half chihuahua, half shi tzu named Wicket. I wanted to name him Dib after the story, but no one else liked that name.