Hey guys, so I am finally giving you all the ending for this little tale!
Now this will likely break some cannon, but due to how salty I am for the canon reintroduction of last word, Bungie can suck it. Now first: Light is an acceptable ether substitute in my story. Fallen used to be beings of light, so I am saying that it could happen. Second: Ghosts can heal other beings than their guardian, they cannot undo death however for anyone else. Third: Ghosts understand Fallen, so any communication between fallen and guardians in my story is due to this. I will not be marking each and every time it gets translated, because that would almost double the story length.
As always bungie owns what bungie owns, I own my characters and the plot... and last word right now so **************** bungie.
A Titan's Family:
House hunting sucks. It just does. I mean, you don't feel safe in your tower home. Guardians feel fine flaunting their light killing weapons around your kid. Entire exercises in using the darkness get officially sanctioned. One of you punches an elected official in the face. Regardless, the circumstances always suck. Then, who knows how much time you will spend going from place to place only to find problem after problem. This one's too small for a family of three. This one doesn't have anywhere for a weapons and loot locker. This one has holes in the roof, and the walls, and the floor. This one is infested with Eliksni. You know, the usual. So you decide to build your own. Hah! Now you get to scout land. And if you thought house hunting was bad…..
Here you will find countless others who agreed with you about the pre built stuff, or were kicked out for various reasons: Volume, wild kids, vandalism, murdering their neighbors, trying to conquer a god, you know, the usual. It was during this process that Tal-9 and his ghost hopped off of their sparrow. They were in a part of the EDZ affectionately nicknamed the winding cove, because the road was winding, and it was a cove. Fallen had infested all of the caves below so that was out of the question, but Tal-9 had his eyes on the crashed ship overlooking the cove. Building off of that they could have an easily defendable home and plenty of room.
Using his jump jets he went from rock to rock till he reached the top… and found a creepy homeless dude trying to sell him exotics he already had and rambling to himself about the nine. When the dude just wouldn't shut up Tal ran and jumped off the edge, activating his jump jets right before he hit the ground so he just settled on the ground gently. His ghost materialized beside him as he pulled a list out of a pouch on his belt and crossed off another spot.
"Well that was a waste of time." Came the crackling reply from drone at his shoulder.
"You said it. Man I really wanted to settle here."
"It's ok Tal, we'll find a home for Rakell and young Mal-2."
"I know Drake, I know." The little orb looked at it's friend in concern at the fatigue in the Titan's voice.
He was going to say something else but suddenly he stumbled when the ground shook. Pulling out his D.A.R.C.I, he looked down the scope. The sniper rifle was going to say something witty but the sight through the scope showed her how serious it was. A Cabal Mining Lander had landed right by an Eliksni nest and appeared to be trying to burrow inside. On the other end of the canyon Fallen families fled through the other exit, only to be mowed down by laughing Cabal. The Cabal were purging the tunnels. Ordinarily, Tal didn't think he would have done anything. The Fallen had killed a lot of good people, but it was the Cabal laughter that infuriated him. Like it was a game and they were going for a high score.
When a small Eliksni was vaporized, Tal-9 roared with anger. Silencing any protests from Drake, he stowed his sniper rifle and pulled out his claymore. As he leapt into the air, jump jets giving him as much height as possible, the Cabal Commander's jets ended and he looked up as the Titan's shadow fell over him. Screaming something incoherent, the Titan descended with the fury of a meteor, his massive sword cleaving the commander straight down the middle. As the shocked centurions turned they too were cut down by the Titans powerful swings. When the last Cabal lie dead, the titan turned to see frightened Eliksni clutching their children, and two marauders lept from their stealth at him.
"TELL THEM I'M NOT GOING TO HURT THEM!" Tal yelled to his ghost as he dodged the swipes of the marauder's blades, before spinning and slamming the flat of the blade into the two. Sending them flying back to their people. As the ghost entered translation mode Tal-9 spoke up "I will not harm Eliksni. I was looking for home for my family. Cabal slaughter children, this angers me. I save Eliksni. We do not fight."
As he finished a captain sized Fallen stepped forward, laying his blades on the ground and bowing. Drake turned back to the Titan and said "He says-"
"That part I understood."
Nodding at the Captain, he went to leap off the bridge and head for the lander when he saw a young Eliksni Dreg between the bodies of two adult Dregs. Kneeling and weeping, the small dreg didn't see the hulking form of the Titan till his shadow covered it. The dreg looked up in alarm but upon seeing that it was the guardian who saved them, the Dreg went back to sobbing. Kneeling Tal-9 felt the eyes of the entire group on him when he stretched an arm out. There was some hisses warning him that if he had a misstep here the good will would be gone. Ignoring them he removed his gauntlet and ran his metal fingers across the little Dreg's back. Startled at the feeling the Dreg pulled his hand off and looked at the metal, then ran it's chitinous covered hand across the now warm metal. At the smile on the Dreg's face, Tal-9 looked to his ghost.
Drake replied "I, uh… I'm not sure but I think she is happy that you are….. And this is a rough translation, but it looks like she thinks you are one of their god's? Or at least a herald due to being an Exo."
"She?"
"Oh yes that is a young female Dreg."
Nodding Tal-9 took his gauntlet covered hand, undid the seals on his prized Helm of Saint-14, and upon it's removal the little Dreg's eyes widened and stared into his magenta orbs. Drake switched back into translation mode as Tal said "It's okay little one. I will push the monster's away. You and your people will be safe."
Both of her mandible opened in shock, then she launched herself at the Titan causing alarm in the growing Eliksni, only for the Titan to stand clutching the chittering Dreg to his chestplate. She rubbed her cheek against his metal one before she allowed herself to be taken by one of the Vandal class Eliksni. Drake popped up again and said "She said-"
"I think I understood that one as well." Walking away from the Eliksni, Tal grabbed his gauntlet and put it on, then went to put his helmet on, but not before turning and winking at the little girl. Helmet on and claymore out he leapt off the bridge. As the Eliksni climbed over the ridge, he summoned his sparrow midfall, and shot towards the drill.
In the four seconds it took him to reach the drill, he had readied his sword, thrown a grenade that stuck to the drill, and leapt from his sparrow. The sparrows momentum crushed three sions in its way and overloaded the shield of a phalanx. As Tal-9 brought his blade down through the stunned Phalanx the drill exploded rocking the very ground. Using the chaos to leap from target to target, he thinned the ranks till only a single psion remained. As the psion fled, he gave chase leaping into the air…. Right as a pod hit the very spot he had run through.
The impact destroyed his shields, his sword flew from his hands and he felt very broken. Servos failing as he tried to get up, he was helpless as the Valus stepped from the pods, laughing at the broken Titan. He felt metal bend and machinery break inside when the Valus punted him into an outcropping of boulders. "Don't bring me back." He whispered. "We have to buy them time... wait till it's safe."
He heard the laughter again, and turned his head to see the bronto canon of the Valus charging and closed his eyes. Only for a Fallen to scream, the Valus to yell in pain, and no shot be fired. Looking at the chaos he saw that the scream had been of the little Dreg girl who was standing in front of him as a shield. The yell of pain and reason the canon hadn't fired was because one of the marauders he had fought had impaled the Valus in the back. He was about to call Drake out to help him so that he could join the fight, but something told him not to. His hunch was confirmed when the Valus blasted one of the Marauders off of him, then called something in to an earpiece. The roar of a Cabal Thresher overhead confirmed his worst fears. Grabbing the girl he forced himself to leap over the boulders. Feeling more parts of himself brake he grimaced as they fell, trying to get his jump jets under them, as he heard the sound of a fallen hoard ripping into their prey, the mad laughter of the Valus, and the deafening boom of cannons hitting the ground above them.
Rakell was not a patient sort. Even less so when her idiot husband went radio silent. Deverim wasn't unpleasant to converse with, but he didn't know when it was better to just shut up. Ross, Mal-2's ghost had been doing an excellent job of keeping the little exo occupied while she internally panicked. She smiled as the small boy chased the ghost in what appeared to be an odd game of hide and seek. She chuckled when he tried to chase the ghost down a small corridor in the church, only for his singular horn to catch on the low ceiling of their play area, and knock him on his but, making him do the most adorable shocked expression she had seen.
The little boys shocked yellow eyes and horn turned her smile into a grimace. She liked Anastasia, she really did. But knowing what Braytech had been doing, experimenting on children, turned her stomach. And she didn't know if she could look at her old friend the same for her idolization of what Braytech had been. When he had been found on titan, in a box waiting like cargo, she had punched through a wall. She remembered how nervous Tal was when he essentially asked if they could keep him. Like she would have just left him in the care of someone else, who for all she knows would just put him back.
She remembered the sadness in Banshee's face when he saw the boy. He, Shaxx, and Amanda were all working on replacement parts so that he would be able to grow as best as an exo could. Last she had heard his teenage frame was complete and they were beginning his adult one. But when Cayde died, everything kinda stopped. Her husband hadn't even been particularly close with the Hunter Vanguard, but there wasn't a person in the tower who could honestly say they disliked him. She got countless apologies, but she assured them that it was plenty alright. Mal had quite a few more years before he would even need his teenage frame.
Her contemplation was broken by the little exo climbing onto the couch beside her, laying his head on her thigh, clutching his ghost tight, and falling asleep. Stroking the cool metal of the boy's head, she knew he didn't feel it, but it made her smile. After a few minutes she checked the time and grew alarmed. Tal had missed over four check-ins by now. Sensing the alarm, Mal's ghost gently extricated himself from the boys grasp and whispered "Go. Mal was my charge first. Nothing will happen to him."
As Rakell debated with herself, Devrim spoke up "The day that boy is in danger with me in a vantage point, will be the day I hang up this rifle."
Her mind made up, she carefully moved the boy's head so she could get up. Then she placed a kiss on his forehead and whispered "Mommy's got to go save Daddy again. We will be back." Nodding her thanks to Devrim and Ross, she leapt out of the window that Devrim had stepped back from, activating her sparrow mid way down. You'd better be dead or dying, o husband of mine, or you will be!
When Tal-9 came to, he was out of his armor save for his boots, leaving nothing but the body glove covering him, that and an Eliksni Dreg girl asleep on his chest. Carefully laying her on the ground where he was laying he looked around. The purple light of his ward of dawn revealed that almost the entire cave entrance had come down on them, though thanks to the dome they had plenty of space. Feeling around he definitely felt a faint breeze from somewhere, so he didn't need to worry about the girl suffocating. His ghost appeared to have been scanning for a way out when he noticed that Tal-9 was up.
"Hello Sleeping Hero."
"What happened?"
"We fell down a hole."
"Really?" The ironic tone and and shocked expression made Drake chuckle in his robotic way.
"Then the hole fell down on us. I don't know how you could even move but you stopped our rather rapid descent and popped a ward of dawn."
"How is it still holding?"
"Most of the rubble has solidified around us. There are gaps of course, that's how we have air, but for the most part it is supporting itself around us."
"Crap."
He noticed the dreg girl was sleeping fitfully, and putting on his helmet he saw that it had been almost five hours since he left. Rakell is going to kill me. Again! When he saw the girl clutch her stomach, he realized she was hungry. "Hey Drake, what do Fallen eat exactly?"
"Ether, its an energy made by servitors."
"Don't suppose we have one of those?" His ghost tilted in a way that indicated it was not amused and he continued "Didn't the fallen used to be like us? With light and such?"
"Not exactly, but Ether does appear to be based on light….. YOU WANT ME TO TRY AND SYNTHESIZE A LIGHT ETHER?! IN THE FIELD! WITH NO WAY TO TEST IT!"
"Keep your voice down. And yeah I would rather her not starve."
"... Fine. I'll try. That's it. Try."
"Thank you."
The experiment worked, and when the girl woke up, she was ecstatic to see her hero not only awake, but with something the little machine told her was food! Just the little bit they had filled her up, and gave her an energy she hadn't ever felt before. Then she noticed where they were. The Titan told her not to be scared, but she just quirked her head confused as told him she wasn't scared.
"Machine god-hero here. Me safe."
Tal-9 thought his robotic heart would melt when she said that, and he resolved that he would make sure that she was right. They passed the time with a few games he could remember, when those ran out he told her stories of faraway worlds and the heroes that saved them. She asked if he was one of those and his heart felt like melting again. Finally, he and Drake not only started to learn Eliksni, but they were teaching her a few human words as well. Hours later when Rakell melted and bashed her way to them, she found the bubble of void light. Continuing to dig them out she entered the bubble and saw her husband sitting cross legged, with his arms wrapped around a fallen Dreg child that was in his lap, while she clutched his ghost. He had woken up when she entered the bubble but shushed her before she could wake the girl.
As gently as they could they made their way out of the tunnel, him still holding the girl, and Rakell already knowing their family had just gotten bigger. Still holding the little Dreg, he went towards the area where the Fallen had saved him. Rakell watched his shoulders slump and would have sworn she heard him softly sobbing as he saw the bodies of the Eliksni littering the ground amongst the rubble. Summoning her sparrow Rakell had him get on the back, and she drove softer than she ever had before.
Devrim had been more than a little shocked when they returned with a young Dreg, but when Tal-9 told the story, he felt his aging eyes get a little moist. Coughing the emotion away he asked how Rakell had found them in the first place. She told them of how she found the rubble and a single fallen still alive. He was the captain that Tal had met. He told her that her friend was down the hole, and gave her his claymore to return to him. Saying that the 'Ki Lo Nas' needed his blade. As Tal-9 took his blade back, Devrim asked what 'Ki Lo Nas' meant, but before Rakell could answer Tal-9 summoned a small blade of void light and carved the words into his sword's blade before strapping it to his back and speaking. "It means 'The Mighty Wolf Protector'. I saved them by killing their enemies. I am a hunter to protect others. And that is exactly what I will do."
In the end Tal-9 and his family left the EDZ. Mal-2 loved his new little sister, who they named Shas Lo or Brave Wolf in Eliksni. Rakell had rolled her eyes when her husband tried to broach the topic of the little girl staying with them, to which she joklingly replied "I don't care what you say she's staying and thats final!" Shas loved her new family, she still missed her old one but as she grew, she assured them that they were her family too. After a few run-ins with guardians that found themselves respawning after attacking the girl mistakenly, they realized that they needed to get out of tower space. Calling in a favor with Petra, they became official citizen's of the reef. Becoming Paladins they helped restore order to the prison of elders, and knelt before their queen when Mara returned. Banshee and Holliday still made sure they got Mal's upgrades, and told them that no matter what, they would have friends in the tower. Mal-2 eventually felt the need to leave the reef. Osiris, always a friend of the reef had been teaching the boy and offered to take the boy under his wing. Tal-9 and Rakell both agreed that it was his decision to make, and with a heavy heart Mal-2 said goodbye to his parents and sister. He promised to visit when he could, and then he left with Osiris. Shas Lo grew fast and strong due to the light-ether, and discovered that she could use the light a little bit to energize her punches and kicks slightly, but at the cost of draining her. Training under her parents and then becoming Petra Venj's student, she would go on to become the first Eliksni Paladin to her parents and brother's delight...
Mal 9 and Osiris managed to finally end the vex threat, though at the cost of Osiris's and Mal's ghost Ross's lives. Now with Sagira, the hunter patrols the Sol system, preparing for the Darkness's coming return...
Shas Lo continued studying under Petra Venj, the two becoming close friends. It would be this tutelage that would mark her as the next Queen's Wrath...
Tal-9 and Rakell are still Paladins keeping an aye on the edge of awoken space, and to this day, if you see one the other is never far behind...
Aww gets me everytime. Now I don't think this is some of my best writing, but it comes to a neat little end, and as such, has a special spot to me. I hope you all enjoyed it. If so shoot me a pm! If not... Shoot me a pm! It's the only way to grow.
But, as always, all tales must end. And this one has told enough for today.