Kaedro held his gun at the ready as they entered the room. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he knew something felt off. Mara Sov being alive, the Taken still in the ascendant realm… something wasn't right.

He looked past Harley to the opposite side of the room. Uldren was on his hands and knees in front of a large glowing portal frame, reaching out to whatever was coming through.

"Mara?" he asked.

"Uldren," Mara's voice replied.

Kaedro could make out the silhouette of the Queen growing larger in the frame.

"You brave, devoted, pathetic fool. Thank you."

Uldren got to his feet, reaching up to her. As she took his arms, her figure warped, morphing into an enormous creature with a gaping maw and glowing tentacles, pulling Uldren in. Uldren screamed and began to struggle, but it was no use against the monstrous creature. Cayde's hand cannon, the Ace of Spades, fell from his grasp, clattering to the floor. Kaedro looked on in horror as the creature put Uldren Sov into its mouth, swallowing him whole.

"What the hell!" he yelled, "What in Light's name is that thing?!"

Harley looked over his shoulder, meeting Kaedro's gaze. Kaedro nearly dropped his gun. His friend's eyes were glowing white. Harley didn't react to the sight of them - didn't even blink - instead turning back to the creature that had eaten Uldren. Drawing his bow, he sent several arrows into its mouth. It bellowed and sent void projectiles at them, causing them to scatter. As the creature flew forward, Kaedro saw Taken materialize in the room, setting their sights on him and Bazzle.

He fought the Taken, careful to stay near some form of cover should the creature fire at him. He glanced after Harley to find the Hunter standing calmly in the midst of a crowd of Taken Psions, shooting at the tentacle creature. A thousand alarms sounded in Kaedro's head at the sight. Not only was Harley not reacting to being so close to the Taken, but the Taken weren't acting aggressively toward him at all. Kaedro knew then that something was truly wrong. The Taken wouldn't leave a Guardian alone for any reason, yet they were not shooting Harley. And after Harley's experience at the hand of Oryx, Kaedro knew that he could barely stand the sight of Taken. By all accounts, the number of Taken around Harley should have sent him into a panic attack. Yet he stood there acting like it was just another day in the field.

Kaedro focused on killing the rest of the Taken before helping Harley and Bazzle shoot the creature. Somewhere, he heard Uldren's voice cry out.

"Nooooo!"

Then his vision warped and they were standing in the ascendant realm. More Taken began to appear. Kaedro watched in shock as they once again ignored Harley in favor of attacking the other two Guardians. Harley ran over to a Centurion and jumped through the portal it summoned, which promptly vanished.

"What about that is fair?" Kaedro grumbled, ignoring the worry building inside his chest.

It wasn't something he could afford to focus on at the present moment. He and Bazzle plowed through the Taken and dispatched the Centurion, opening the exit portal. They emerged into the tower room just in time to see Harley deliver a Golden Gun shot to the creature's mouth. Inside, Uldren screamed.

"SISTER! HELP!"

Kaedro's vision rippled again as they were sent back to the ascendant plane. He groaned. Ahead of them, he saw Harley running toward a Taken Phalanx.

"Ace!"

Harley didn't even slow down, running through the portal and out of the ascendant realm. Kaedro groaned again and reached for the Light. He drew back a bow of pure Void and fired an arrow into the midst of the Taken. Tendrils shot out from the point of impact, ensnaring the enemies while he and Bazzle shot them down. As they exploded in a cacophony of ethereal starbursts, Kaedro dropped a vortex grenade on the phalanx, watching as the Void ate it away, dissolving it into nothing.

They jumped back through the portal and went to work on the tentacle creature. More Taken had materialized in the room since they'd left, so Kaedro kept them off Bazzle while the Titan shot at the creature.

All of a sudden, a glowing shield appeared around the creature, deflecting their shots. Kaedro looked to the side and saw the shield was tethered to two floating spheres. He quickly shot them down. The creature turned on him and Kaedro dropped flat to avoid the Void projectile careening his way.

"That wasn't very nice," he muttered.

Switching to a sniper rifle, he aimed carefully into the center of the creature's mouth and fired as many times as he could, not stopping until the chamber was empty. The creature bellowed in pain, writhing in midair. Next to it, a swirling vortex formed in the air, pulling the terrible thing in, compressing it down into nothingness. It vanished in a blink and Uldren fell to the ground with a thud that made Kaedro wince. The Exo watched him carefully, looking for any sign of life. After a few moments, the Prince rolled over with a groan.

Kaedro sighed in relief and looked around for Harley. The Hunter was in the process of nocking an arrow.

Kaedro threw himself forward and grabbed Harley's bow, wrestling it from his grasp. Harley turned, glaring and Kaedro backpedaled, holding the bow behind his back.

"Give it back," Harley hissed.

Kaedro looked into his friend's eyes, finding that they still shone with a harsh white light, morphing his face into something that Kaedro's instincts screamed that he should kill. That empty gaze reached something deep inside of Kaedro - a primordial fear as old as creation that caused him to take another step back. Harley's breathing was ragged, likely from a combination of the multiple Light attacks he'd used combined with physical exertion. Kaedro dropped the bow, kicking it away with a clatter.

"It's over, kid."

Harley shook his head. "It's not over," he growled, "Not until he's dead. Not until he pays for what he's done."

"He will," said Bazzle, stepping forward, "He will stand trial before the Awoken for his actions."

Harley shook his head vehemently. "Not good enough. He must die. He has to be brought to justice."

Uldren, who had been in the process of crawling away, laughed bitterly.

"Justice," he said, turning over and propping himself up to glare at them, "Is that what you think this is?"

Harley lunged toward him, hands curled into claws, but Kaedro caught his arms. The other Hunter twisted, trying to yank himself free. Kaedro tightened his grip. He couldn't afford to let up when he was the one thing stopping Harley from killing Uldren.

"Not here, Ace. Not like this."

"You have many things to answer for, Uldren Sov," said Bazzle.

A new voice rang through the room. "Believe me, he will answer for them."

They turned to see Petra Venj stalking towards them, a sidearm in her hand. She came to a stop in front of Uldren, leveling her gun at his chest. Kaedro weighed his options. Petra was the more immediate threat. Harley's bow was somewhere across the room and Kaedro was confident that he could stop the other Hunter before he could reach it. He released his hold on Harley to move between Uldren and Petra.

"Whoa. We can't just end him."

"I agree," said Bazzle, "Even given what he's done, it doesn't justify-"

"You don't know what he's done!" snapped Petra, "His crimes are unforgivable!" She looked at Kaedro. "You're a Hunter. What do you think Cayde would do?"

Kaedro hadn't forgotten for a second that he was protecting the man who had killed his friend in cold blood and he didn't appreciate that fact being thrown in his face, especially by Petra Venj. But as much as he wanted to condemn Uldren to death, he felt that there was something more going on.

Prism materialized in a small flash of light. "He wouldn't want this," she said firmly, looking Petra in the eye.

The Awoken woman looked away, but her expression lost none of its anger.

"Then maybe it's not about what Cayde would want. Maybe it's about what the Reef needs. What Harley needs. What I need."

"Harley doesn't need this. He thinks he does, but he's wrong. And I know there's a part of him that knows it… I don't know what crimes Uldren has committed, but killing him here, this way, isn't the answer. Let him stand trial before the Awoken. Let him answer for his crimes the right way."

"'Crimes,'" hissed Uldren, "All that I've done, all that I've sacrificed, has been for my sister… And I would do it all again."

"You won't get the chance," said Harley coldly.

Kaedro turned to see Harley holding the Ace of Spades, pointing it squarely at Uldren's chest. He lunged for the hand cannon, knowing that he would be too slow to stop it. He was midstep when the cannon fired. Uldren crumpled to the ground at the same time as Kaedro's hand closed around Harley's wrist.

Harley didn't fight him, letting the gun fall to the floor of his own accord. Petra holstered her sidearm, her face grim.

"It is done."

Kaedro looked helplessly at Bazzle. "What the hell do we do now?"

Bazzle sighed in defeat. "The only thing we can do is return to the Tower... The Vanguard will need to hear of this."

"What about Ace?"

"He will have to return with us. He acted against orders."

"Your Vanguard would condemn him for avenging Cayde?" said Petra, "Cayde was one of them!"

"I am aware," said Bazzle wearily, "But a Guardian of the City cannot afford to lose their head. Hayden breached protocol. He acted outside of the City's jurisdiction in defiance of direct orders from his superiors... He will have to stand before the Vanguard and possibly the Consensus."

Kaedro's head snapped up. "Wait, the Consensus? No way! Those Light-forsaken bureaucrats would have him exiled!"

"I doubt it will come to that."

"It will, sure as the sky is blue. They've always been trigger-happy with this sort of thing and now that the Speaker isn't there to mediate, they'll surely be even worse!"

"Which is why I'm hoping that this matter can be resolved internally by the Vanguard... In either case, we need to leave now, before word of what happened here reaches the rest of the system. It's...better off coming from us."

Kaedro sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

He bent down and picked up the Ace of Spades, then patted Harley on the shoulder.

"I'll hold onto this for now, kid."

Harley didn't seem to register his words.

"We all riding with you, Baz?"

Bazzle nodded. "Prism, would you direct Hayden's ship to set a course for Earth on autopilot?"

"Yes, I can do that."

"Thank you. Kaedro, prepare for transmat."

Kaedro grabbed Harley's bow before moving to stand next to Harley.

"Ready."

As they got ready to depart, Petra came over. She looked between Bazzle and Kaedro.

"For what it's worth, I know this wasn't easy for you. I hope the City doesn't judge his actions...or yours, too harshly." She placed a hand on Harley's shoulder. "Good luck, Harley."

She looked like she wanted to add more, but in the end, she just shook her head and walked away. Kaedro sighed. A few moments later, Sway spoke up.

"Transmat imminent," she informed them.

Kaedro's vision flashed white and suddenly he was sitting inside Bazzle's ship. Harley occupied the seat next to him, looking down at his hands in vague confusion. Kaedro knew they would have to talk about what had happened with the Taken back in the tower. He knew they had a lot to clear up before they got back to the City, but for now, he figured they could all use some time to process what had happened.

Petra's words had made him realize something. He and Bazzle had failed. The Vanguard sent them to prevent Harley from killing Uldren and they hadn't been able to. What was worse, there was a part of Kaedro that knew they probably could have stopped Harley days ago. Maybe if they'd used more force in the beginning, if they'd tried harder, they could have stopped this all from happening. Had he not committed enough to completing the mission? He wasn't sure. Up until this moment, he'd been telling himself that he was doing his best, but what if he hadn't? If he'd really done everything in his power to stop Harley, then Harley wouldn't have been able to kill Uldren. Was there a part of him that agreed with Harley's actions? Was that the reason for their failure? He met Bazzle's gaze and he could tell the Titan knew what he was thinking about.

"Baz, do you think… the reason we couldn't stop him, do you think it was-"

"It wasn't your fault," said Bazzle.

"But-"

"It was mine."

"What? What do you mean?"

Bazzle sighed. "I was holding back… Hayden's a member of my team and a fellow Guardian. I held back because of those things and it cost us the mission and possibly the City's relationship with the Reef."

"Whoa, hold on. You can't put all of this on yourself, Baz. I was just as-"

"You weren't. I was the one who dragged you into this mission. I made the decision to contact you."

"Hey, you didn't drag me into anything. You may've called me but I made the choice to come along and I made that choice knowing what we'd have to do to ensure the mission's success. You gave me multiple chances to back out and I turned them down. This isn't on you."

"I'm not sure that's how the Vanguard will see it," said Bazzle grimly.

"Of course they will! I know they're pressured to do and say certain things, but they'll understand better than anyone that it wasn't your fault. Cayde was their friend too."

"Perhaps… But what about the Consensus?"

"For all we know, the Consensus won't even be involved. No use worrying about what hasn't been decided."

"I suppose. I still would not take that bet if I were you."

Kaedro chuckled halfheartedly. "Wouldn't be much of a bet if it was certain." He patted the Titan's shoulder. "We've got a long flight back, yet. Let's just concentrate on getting Ace home and leave the logistics to the bureaucrats."

Bazzle nodded, turning back to the viewscreen. Kaedro sighed as he looked back at Harley, watching the swirling colors of warp space play across the Hunter's face. Despite his advice to Bazzle, he couldn't help but worry over what would happen when they got back to the Tower. There was no telling what kind of welcome Harley would face when they arrived.

A/N: Hey all. If it seems like this story ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, that's because it kind of did. I wrote this story to lead into the next one, which I've already begun drafting. A few things before you go...

Major thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and especially reviewed. You guys are the reason I keep writing.

To catch more future stories from me, you can follow my profile. Or if it's just Chasing Fate you're interested in, you can follow the Chasing Fate community I created.

If any of you are inspired to write stories about or involving any Chasing Fate characters, you have my blessing. All I ask is that you PM me to let me know of your intentions. (I will also consider posting them to the CF Community, if that's something people would want).

I currently have a number of story ideas in mind, the next part of the Chasing Fate series being the foremost. But I've also been thinking of writing a story about my older Guardians and their backstories, so keep an eye out for that.

You can find Chasing Fate art on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and DeviantArt (all under the name ArcaneGlitch).

EmbersAtDusk: Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm glad you've been enjoying my stories and I hope to continue writing enjoyable stories in the future.

One last thing: I may be going back to address some of the weaker aspects of my first few stories. Namely Herald of the Machine World, Darkness Ascending, and The Final Shape. Updates on that front will be provided via author's notes.

Thank you all for reading! Onto the next adventure!

- TheWolfParadox