Hey there everyone. I was able to get another chapter but I haven't really planned much beyond this chapter. Don't worry I have a really big story arc I want to do in the future but that is a thing for later. Until I get to that arc updates maybe be a bit slow.
Also if anyone has some short story arc ideas or if you have an OC or two you would like to see in this story go ahead and sent me a message with the details. I would like to fill this with some more people just to make it more interesting.
Anyway on to the chapter. As always please rate, review, and enjoy.
Chapter 6: Reconciliation
Aaron and Jewel reappeared aboard Aaron's ship, an old red blockade runner given to him by Variks. Aaron released Jewel's arm and she fell down onto a bed behind her. Aaron quickly tore off his helmet and his now cold green eyes stared down at the hunter, all of the fun, carefree attitude she had seen from him before now completely gone.
"What the hell were you thinking Jewel!" Aaron yelled at her. Jewel couldn't find anything to say so she turned her gaze to the floor as Aaron started to pace around in front of her, his grip on his cracked helmet growing tighter.
"I just don't understand why you felt like you had you had to go on a suicide mission without telling anyone. You're damn lucky Cayde caught on to you and sent me and my team down there when he did. What would have happened if he didn't realize you had left? I don't care what caused you to act the way you did but you have no excuse for acting so recklessly!" Aaron yelled causing Jewel to flinch. Rex appeared between Aaron and Jewel as he tried to calm his guardian down.
"Aaron I know your upset but this isn't helping. Maybe you could…"
"Stay out of this Rex." Aaron said as he swatted his ghost away.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself Jennifer?" Jewel was quiet for a bit before she spoke.
"Sorry." She said barley above a whisper.
"Sorry?" Aaron boomed as he grabbed her chin and moved her gaze to him. "Sorry doesn't mean anything after that stunt. I want an explanation Jennifer. My team and I just ran in their to save your ass and I think we deserve a explanation for why you put yourself in that position that we had to get you out of!" Jewel didn't say anything instead she tried to look back at the floor. "Well?" Aaron asked his tone clearly angry with her.
"I'm sorry Aaron. I didn't mean to drag you into this but I can't tell you my reasoning." Aaron released his hold on her as he stomped back and forth in front of the bed as he aggressively ran his free hand through his sweaty and messy hair.
"Damn it Jewel!" He finally said as he threw his helmet across the ship, the cracked visor shattering under the impact with the wall with a loud crash that caused Jewel to flinch again.
"I don't want a stupid apology! I want an answer to my question! Why did you try and kill the brothers alone?" It wasn't until Aaron stopped yelling that he noticed Jewel was crying now. Suddenly feeling guilty Aaron tried to reach out to comfort his friend but as his hand approached her she slapped it away and pushed herself against the wall that the bed sat against.
"Oh god." Was all around could say as he rubbed his temples. Rex floated up next to Aaron, his single blue eye glaring at his guardian.
"Good going Captain Jack-ass." That was a name no one had called Aaron in a long time. He had hoped to never hear it again. Aaron let Jewel cry as he walked down the short hall to retrieve his broken helmet. Walking back Aaron placed his helmet on a shelf and slumped up against the wall before staring at the ceiling.
"I just don't get it Jewel." He said his voice quiet now. "I'm just trying to understand why you didn't go to someone for help. Why you didn't come to me for help."
"Why I didn't go to you?" Jewel asked her voice sour. "Why do you think I didn't go to you? We hardly even know each other Aaron. We met in the middle of the Iron Banner for Pete's sake. We have known each other not even two full days. I don't even know why you decided to risk your life for me in the first place."
"It's because I care about you Jewel."
"You think I don't care about you?" She interrupted as she turned to face him, her face still hidden behind her helmet.
"I didn't want to drag you into a dangerous mission. Those brothers had killed too many guardians already, one of them I knew personally." Jewel started crying again. Aaron sat on the bed next to her and took off her helmet. Her blue eyes were red from her crying and her cheeks were stained with her tears.
"Is that why you did want any help? Because they had killed someone you knew before?" Jewel just nodded.
"Jewel I…"
"Don't you dare say you understand because you don't, or at the very least not in the way they took him from me." Jewel said her voice cold as ice.
"You're right." Aaron said causing Jewel to look back to him.
"What?"
"You're right. I don't understand. I've never lost anyone close to me. I have seen other guardians die and I have felt remorse for them but it was never anyone I really knew. For the longest time my fireteam has been the only family I've had. Look I may not know what you're going through Jewel but I do know that it won't get any better if you keep these emotions bottled up inside." Jewel remained silent.
"You know I've changed quite a bit over the last couple of years. That name that Rex called me, Captain Jack-ass, it was one of my many nicknames given to me by my team." Jewel looked over to him, her face looked surprised but she said nothing. "They all had something they called me. Captain Jack-ass was the name Syd gave me. Kore actually gave me a title rather than a name. He called me 'The unholy offspring of the Darkness and the Traveler whose sole purpose is to kill hopes and dream'." Aaron looked over when he heard Jewel giggle a bit.
"I doubt you were that bad."
"Actually that title is a bit of an understatement. I was not the same guy I am now. Back then I was a prick. I was a titan who did as he was told, when he was told, and did it by the book every time. Zavala like that a lot but everyone else wanted to shoot me, especially my team. Granted back then they weren't my team."
"So what changed?" Jewel asked now interested in his story.
"I was tasked with leading the five of them on a mission to look into some fallen activity in the Cosmodrome. We snuck our way into King's Watch and we fought our way to the end. There we found the House Devils Kell speaking with the house King's Kell. They spotted us quickly and a big fight broke out. I was yelling orders left and right. Most of them were complete nonsense as I tried to recall protocol and training procedure that fit into this kind of fight. Eventually I gave Val an order to flank the Devil Kell on the left side. What I didn't notice was that there were four stealth Captains guarding that side. Val tried to tell me they were there but I wouldn't listen. I shouted at her for a good three minutes telling her to move to that flank or else I would have her court marshaled for insubordination. It took the Captains a good 20 seconds to take down Val. They would have killed her if Lance hadn't disobeyed my orders and went to help her. It was at that point that everyone stopped listening to me and they followed Lance as he told everyone to retreat. Eventually it was just me and I had to leave or die in the fight.
"Back at the tower I was confronted by Lance who started our conversation with a punch that dislocated my jaw. He proceeded to list off not only all the complaints that every guardian had about me but he also told me about Val's injuries. I still remember them. Severe blunt force trauma to the head, multiple severe lacerations across the body, severe internal bleeding, broken right arm, dislocated left leg, three broken ribs and four fractured. She was in the infirmary for weeks and it took her almost a full month to get back to anything. It was at that moment as I sat on the ground of the tower courtyard with my dislocated jaw that I saw what I really was. I decided then that I would do everything I could to become a better person. It took a long time but eventually I earn the forgiveness of my team and they let me join. Even though Val has long since forgiven me for what I did I still find it hard to forgive myself. She nearly died because I was too stubborn and arrogant to listen to others. I promised myself I would never go back to being that person but sometimes it slips out. My team calls it my dark side and unfortunately you just saw it." Aaron looked down at the gray tiled floor of his ship until he felt Jewel rest her hand on his shoulder. She didn't say anything but she did give him a small smile. The two sat together in silence for a little while. After a few minutes Jewel spoke.
"His name was Christian. He was a Warlock." Jewel said which caught Aaron slightly by surprise.
"What?"
"The guardian I knew that the brothers killed. He was a Warlock named Christian. He was my best friend. After Opal found me she was directing me to an old ship she had found while she was searching. While on my way there I was ambushed by Fallen. I didn't have a weapon and I didn't know how to fight. I thought I was going to die until someone started killing the Fallen. After they were all gone Christian came up to help me. He made sure I was alright before handing me an extra scout rifle he had. He helped me fight my way to the ship Opal found and he flew with me back to the tower. After that he insisted he'd help me get used to being a guardian. After a few weeks we got closer and closer until we could really say we were in love. We did everything together; we were even talking about moving in with each other and maybe getting married."
"And suddenly you start sounding like Syd when she gets all lovey dovey with Max." Jewel gave Aaron a light punch in the shoulder.
"Shut up." She said before her tone turned very somber. "But all that changed one day. We had heard rumors that a scouting patrol on mars had gone missing. We talked to Cayde and got permission to go look for them. We went to mars and found the teams last known position. It was just outside an old building in the buried sea. We didn't see any activity outside or anything. We went in a little bit before Christian said we should go back. He had a bad feeling about it and he thought we should get some backup before going any further. I was still a fairly new guardian. I still had that naïve sense of adventure that everyone gets after their brought back. I convinced him to keep going a bit. I promised him that we would run at the first sight of trouble. But the problem was, as we moved deeper, there was no sign trouble. After a while both of us were uneasy. Eventually we came into a big room and we saw three dead ghosts sitting on a red stain on the floor. Christian looked over the ghosts while I looked around. It wasn't until I looked up that I realized what we were standing in.
"Hanging from the ceiling were the three guardians from the scouting patrol. All three of them were stripped of their armor and were hanging by their neck with gunshot wounds all over their bodies. I nearly vomited at the sight. I probably would have is the Cabal didn't suddenly appear and start shooting at us. Christian and I hunkered down behind a bit of cover trying to hold the Cabal back. Eventually two bigger Cabal walked into the room."
"The brothers." Aaron said as Jewel nodded.
"Christian knew we had to get out so he mantled our cover and killed the Cabal by the door with a Nova Bomb. He pulled over the ledge and told me to run and not look back. He said he would be right behind me. So I ran. I ran as fast as I could and when the sound of gunfire started to die off I just ran faster. It wasn't until I got back outside that I turned around and didn't see Christian anywhere. I started to panic before three guardians who were patrolling the Buried city found me. I begged them to help me get Christian out of there. I followed them as they fought through the Cabal that had chased after me. It was the first time I had really seen each class of guardian working together like that. Working to save one of their own. We got back into the big room and they made quick work of foot soldier before turning to one of the brothers. It was Mau'ual, I didn't see Tlu'urn anywhere. Mau'ual just gave a guttural laugh as he saw me. I didn't know why until he threw something at my feet. It was Christians helmet with his head still inside. The other guardians started firing on Mau'ual and drove him away. As I stared at Christians helmet I could hear dripping. I looked behind me to see to see blood dripping on his ghost Claire. I didn't want to see his body after that. All I could do was sit there in the puddle of blood and cry. I cried for a few minutes until the other guardians came back. I cried the whole time their Titan carried me out of the building, I cried as Opal flew us back to the tower, and I cried myself to sleep that night. When I woke up I wanted to cry some more but my teas were all gone. I had nothing more to give." Jewel ended her story as more tears brimmed in her eyes. She turned her head when she heard Aaron sniffle and she saw that he was crying as well.
"Damn." He said as he shook his head. "Just, Damn. I'm so sorry Jewel, I shouldn't have brought this up."
"No it's alright. You were right, holding these feelings in wasn't going to help, and I just miss him is all. But now that the brothers are dead, I think Christian can rest easy now."
"I'm glad I could help. Just, next time you want to go on a dangerous mission like this, please find someone to go with you." Jewel giggled a bit before leaning over and giving Aaron a kiss on the cheek. As Aaron looked at her she giggled again when she saw his cheeks flush red.
"Thanks Aaron." Jewel said as she stood up and retrieved her helmet. "I should probably get going. Cayde probably wants to talks to me." Jewel said as she put on her helmet and Opal appeared.
"Hold on a sec." Aaron asked as he stood up as well while Jewel looked back at him. "I just wanted to ask you, why did you say yes?"
"What do you mean?"
"When I asked you out during the Iron Banner, why did you say yes? I mean we didn't know each other and you had no reason to listen to me. So why did you agree?" Jewel shrugged.
"To be honest, I don't really know. It just felt like the right thing to do." Aaron smiled at her.
'You realize how cheesy that sounds right?" Jewel giggled again before turning back around a disappearing from the ship. Aaron looked back to Rex as he sat back down on his bed.
"Rex, tell the team I'm heading back to the tower and have them send me an update on those bombs. Also let Cayde know we finished and that Jewel is on her way back to the tower."
"Alright and what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to take a nap and relish in the fact that she kissed me."
"She kissed you on the cheek. It doesn't count."
"It was a kiss, it counts."
"No it wasn't, besides she kissed you not the other way around."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
As Rex an Aaron continued to bicker. The red blockade runner shot through the stars towards earth.