A/N: Took me 4 months before I finally tried writing this. To say I don't like it is a little bit of an understatement.

I wish I had died today.

I should have died today.

Today was almost like any other day for me in the Tower: routine. Boring.

After my fireteam was asked to join Ikora's Hidden, I got left behind with nothing on my plate. Figured they wouldn't let someone inexperienced like me to do something as dangerous as Nightfall operations on my own, so I asked Shaxx if he needed an extra hand training the other rookies because - let's face it - none of them knows what objectives mean - although that's besides the point.

Rambling. Focus.

Anyway, today started out like any other day. I made a beeline for Shaxx's station in the new Tower once I left my apartment to see what new matches he's drafted me into, when I was stopped on the way by a Hunter.

She asked if I wanted to join her and a few others in a private match of Rumble, saying something about trying out a new weapon in a "less chaotic situation." I can't remember. Anyway.

This Hunter had a certain air about her. She was kinda arrogant but also unsure, and her voice seemed to break at times whenever she spoke to us - as if she was nervous about something.

I had to sign off first with Shaxx before I committed to anything, but I told her I was up for it when she gave me a list of our other competitors: three other Hunters and a Titan. Easy pickings, I told her.

She laughed when I said that, and I felt shivers down my spine when she did. That should've been my first warning, but I didn't know. I didn't know.

I didn't know.

Breathe.

Breath and focus, as Shaxx would have said.

When we left the Tower, we all agreed to transmat into different zones around the arena - a fairly nondescript Vex structure on Nessus - so that finding one another would be fair game for everyone.

Turns out, it was fairer game for her.

An error in my ship's transmat device delayed my landing on the arena, but as soon as my boots touched the ground, I was tackled by the Titan and was pinned against the face of a nearby Vex pillar. I was about to reach for my holdout when he muffled my mouth with one of his gauntlets hands, and the other had a raised index finger touching the part of his helmet where his mouth would have been.

Quiet, he seemed to say, so I complied by giving him a slight nod. As he slowly let go of me, we heard gunshots ring in the distance - specifically, Golden Gun shots. That seemed to get his attention, as the Titan turned and drew the sniper rifle that had been slung at his back. He peered into its scope for a moment before exhaling and taking a knee, not once looking back at me.

"Got a name, 'lock?" He called out to me.

"K-Kiara," I replied shakily.

"Galus-3. Got any idea what mess we've just landed into, kid?"

"N-no?" I was still so shaken by his full-body tackle that I could hardly gain my bearings, much less figure out what this 'mess' was.

Another series of Golden Gun shots rang in the distance, but they were getting closer to us now.

"Here's the gist of it: soon as I landed, I saw that Hunter who invited us kill two others with her hand cannon in cold blood. Shot their Ghosts too. Her piece? Thorn."

At that point, I felt my blood run cold. Every Guardian - new and old - has heard of Thorn, and those who wanted to follow in Dredgen Yor's footsteps. I knew right then that I should run for my life, and the Exo seemed to have read my mind. He had risen from his perch and turned slightly to face me.

"I know you're gonna want to run, and I won't stop you. But the two of us - and that one other guy if he makes it - are the only ones who can stop her right here, right now."

He reached out his hand in invitation and said, "You in, kid?"

I regretted saying yes, because the moment I did that Hunter rounded a far off corner and started shooting at us with her hand cannon. Although we both barely had time to react, it seemed that Galus already had a plan in the works. His body flashed a bright purple, and a Sentinel Shield had materialized in his hand.

The Hunter kept firing at us while Galus held his shield up to guard the two of us. He yelled at me to shoot the Hunter, so I did. I knew, though, that the shield wasn't gonna last forever - and so did that Hunter.

The Hunter kept dancing around my shots while Galus pivoted in place so that his shield would face her and cover us at the same time. She must have been keeping track of time, though, because the moment Galus's shield dropped she took one moment to aim and pull the trigger.

Shaxx and Ikora told me that there was nothing I could have done. They're both wrong.

They're wrong because if I said no and ran I wouldn't have to remember that Titan's body lying on the ground. They're wrong because I could have jumped out of that bullet's way faster than he could have jumped into its path.

I ran over to where his body crashed when he jumped in the way and saw that the bullet tore through the left side of his head.

Dead. Because of me.

I heard the Hunter laugh as she approached us, Thorn in hand. My eyes had started to blur, and tears were forming in my eyes. I was alone.

"Looks like you're the last one standing, Warlock."

Click. She was readying her hand cannon again.

"Why don't we make this fair?"

Click. She was reloading Thorn. I still had one bullet in the barrel. I was looking up at her now, but my vision was still blurred by tears.

"Why don't we see who can draw faster? Only one of us is walking out of here alive, anyway."

Click. Her Thorn was ready. My hand was gripping my hand cannon a lot tighter now.

"What do you say?"

Click.

"Any last wo-"

Bang.

A fifth body fell to the ground that day.

My hands trembled, and I dropped my hand cannon.

I pulled off my helmet.

I put my hands to my face, and I cried.

A/N: Might have to rework my original upload schedule from "once a week" to "when I can finally keep my eyelids open." Uni work is picking up, and I need to focus on those. Take it easy folks, and I'll see you all next time.