Chapter eleven.
King's Fall.
Rose took a moment to properly dry herself off from the hot shower before dressing, hearing Bing talking with Sovereign.
"Is it normal to feel jumpy before this kind of mission?" She asked Vlad, knowing he was cleaning Thorn in the other room.
"Sometimes, no one has ever faced this kind of thing before so you are going in to this mission as blind as we are." The Exo stated, "Though going in as a four would be hard, so I think Arielle and Orion called in a favour."
"So there will be six of us going in to this?" Rose asked as she began to pull a brush through her hair.
"Yep, us and two old friends," he said, just before someone knocked on their door, "Its open."
"Morning." Arielle said as she and Orion came in. "Got through to Kai, he's on his way to the Dreadnaught and will meet us there, but we haven't got a sixth yet."
"I'll call on a favour." Vlad said, "Saix owes me for saving his ass last year."
"Saix as in Lord Saix? Isn't he running with the Iron Wolves now?" Orion asked.
"He can spare a few hours to repay a debt, unless he wants Cayde on his ass for not paying back favours." Vlad chuckled. "Plus, word is he's been chasing Anna Lee for the last two years so if he wants to win points with her he has to repay his debts."
"Who?" Rose asked.
"Anna Lee is one of Ikora's students, a wiz on computers, a good card player and a killer aim with that Multi-tool of hers." Orion explained, "She's a sweet kid, but never get her angry. I've seen her go toe to toe with Arielle and they almost match each other for strength and stubbornness when it comes to hand to hand."
"Really?" Rose asked.
"Yes, but she's still young and has a ways to grow." Arielle smiled. "Ready to go?"
"Almost," Rose nodded coming out of the shower room, pulling on her boots. "Now I'm ready."
"Then we'll go, I'll have Saix meet us there." Vlad said.
"We have to tell them." Ikora said.
"If we tell them now we might lose our only chance to end the Taken threat." Zavala said.
"Are you sure that it will happen?" Cayde asked, "I know you have rarely been wrong Ikora but this," he said looking over everything Ikora had shared with them. "She's been here so long, connected to our Traveler, can we really say that killing Oryx will result in Rose disappearing like the Vex corruption did?"
"All my research and the logic says yes." Ikora said, "I have run the numbers and looked over everything we know and everything tells me that Rose isn't going to be here when this is over."
"But are we positive?" Zavala asked.
Ikora shook her head. "I have no solid proof." She said.
"Then until we are sure, until we have solid proof, we cannot just tell them that doing this would make Rose disappear." Zavala said.
Reaching the Dreadnaught went without any trouble, they handed on the trans-mat zone, just in time to watch a large Ogre fall to the ground as more Cabal reinforcements landed and Hive swarmed from the depths of the ship.
"Come on fuckers!" A voice bellowed as a string of light shot around them.
They turned slightly and spotted a hunter in gray and black armour, all made from Iron and steel from what Rose could see, his back covered by the Devil's cloak she'd seen Variks selling as he charged in, beams of light shooting from his weapon and scattering as he seemed to shoot around corners to take down Cabal and Hive.
"Damn it Saix, you're a damn fool!" Another voice yelled, a Titan who was crouched taking shots at the Cabal at the back of the room. Two Ghosts floating near the Titan, one of them was black and red and floated up and landed heavily in Arielle's hands.
"He's been at this since we got here." The Ghost said, "He won't listen to a word I tell him."
"No worried Bahamut," Arielle assured, "We'll grab his attention and get him up here, then we're going after Oryx."
"How?" the Ghost asked.
Orion smiled and stepped to the side as Vlad levelled Thorn at the other Hunter. "Bang-bang."
"YIKES!" The other Hunter yelped and turned towards where the shot had come from and froze, "Oh, Hi Vlad."
"Get your ass up here and let's go." Arielle called down, "We got a King to dethrone."
"Right, I'm coming!"
"That's Saix?" Rose asked.
"Lord Saix." Orion said, "He's one of the Iron Wolves, Lord Saladin's best group of students, they do what he says and are leading the fight against this generation of Warlords. Thought most don't bother with the 'Lord' Title unless we are on the field with rookies to scare them."
"Wow." Rose said.
"Rose this is Saix-9 and Kai, boys this is Rose," Orion said as a quick introduction. "Be nice." He added with a light jab at Kai.
"Let's get this done with." Arielle said. "Eris says we need to head to the Court and go from there."
They moved through the Dreadnaught shooting down Taken and Hive easily as they reached the court area, covered in a mist like veil.
"How do we get past that?" Kai asked as his ghost floated down and scanned the mists.
"Poison, so we aren't running it." The Ghosts said.
"Anyone else feel like we are being watched?" Orion asked.
"Yes." Came the chorused answer before the gate way in the Court opened and a Taken Wizard flew out of it and charged them, firing powerful blasts of Arc, Sol and Void at them.
"Fuck!" Kai yelped and rolled to one side.
"This is new!" Orion stated as Taken Hive began to swarm them. "Back to back!" he stated as he and Arielle teamed up, shooting down the hall way towards a large group of Taken Knights.
"Shit!" Saix yelped as he and Kai stood together, shooting everything that got close to them.
The Wizard hissed and screamed, focusing its fire on Vlad and Rose, both of whom were pinned behind a Thrall statue of some kind while trying to get a shot off at the Wizard.
"Eris calling." Bing said shortly before Eris's voice filled the comms.
~ "That Wizard is not Hive." ~
"It's Taken!" Arielle said, "Tell us something we don't know."
~ "No she means it wasn't Hive to start with." ~ Cayde says, ~ "It's a Warlord!" ~
"Anyone I know?" Saix asked.
~ "Vlad knows her." ~ Cayde stated. ~ "She's-" ~
"Dying." Vlad snarled and abandoned his cover and unloaded Thorn into the Wizard.
"He's pissed." Kai said taking down a Taken Knight.
"Who was she?" Rose asked.
"Remember I told you about a time Vlad might start cursing?" Orion asked. "She was the reason for that."
"What did she do?" Rose asked.
"She betrayed us," Arielle said, "We'd gone on a mission to the Moon, split up to cover more ground and when she couldn't turn Vlad against the Speaker like she wanted, she shot him and left him for Thrall food. Didn't help that she'd been his girlfriend. Later we found out she had locked her Ghost in a box back at the Tower."
"That's Awful!" Rose said.
"It's why we all made sure if we ever saw her again she'd be dead." Orion said. "She betrayed all of us and the things her Ghost told us she'd done were just as bad, since then Vlad's been out for blood."
"Me thinks he's getting it." Kai yelled taking the last of the Taken Knights down. "That's nine clips he just put into her!"
~ "Ten." ~ Sovereign stated. ~ "The poison is seeping away." ~
"Focus on that Wizard." Arielle hissed as they all turned to fire on eth Wizard, though it seemed Vlad had done most of the work needed to end the Taken Wizard's short life under Oryx, granted it was not painless.
Just as Rose reloaded her rifle the Wizard let out an ear splitting scream and the room was flooded with Shadowy Thrall. Saix and Kai moved first, Saix cutting into the Thrall while Blade dancing and Kai swinging his hammers around with almost as much aim as Orion as Rose hit the Wizard with her arrows.
"Vlad back up!" Orion yelled as Rose grabbed the Exo's cloak and yanked him out of the way as Arielle unleashed her storm and forced most of the energy into the Taken Wizard with Orion's hammers.
"Fuck! Shit this hurts!" Kai yelled duking into cover with rose, clutching his shoulder. "Shit, shit, shit." He hissed as Rose opened fire on the Knight trying to carpet them with fire.
"Heartless WHORE!" Vlad snarled and snatched his own knifes from the air and charged right back into the fight, cursing so much Bing switched off his audios to drown it out.
"He's really mad." The Ghost stated.
Rose nodded but said nothing as she unloaded her rifle into the Wizard from cover seconds before the Wizard fled into the suddenly open portal in the centre of the court, the Knight following seconds later.
"Coward!" Vlad snarled making to follow the Wizard before Orion and Saix grabbed him. "Let go of me!"
"Calm. Down." Arielle hissed "She'll get her dues, but we have other issues right now." She added nodding to Kai as his Ghost took the moment of peace to scan and heal the burn to his shoulder and fix the armour.
"If Oryx managed to take her and her team, we could well be facing a few more surprises, we need to go on with care." Saix said, "We've got one shot at this, and we're the only ones with the way in." he added.
Vlad growled but said nothing as they gathered what they could to convert to ammo for later and gather their bearings before as a group they passed through the portal.
"Rose will disappear?" the Queen asked.
~ "That is what Ikora's research predicts. But we are not completely sure of it." ~ Eris explained, ~ "You have shared minds with her, perhaps you noticed something that may keep her with us when Oryx is defeated?" ~
The Queen was silent, even in her weakened state she had been able to freely wonder the Hunter's mind without any sign of being detected and while she had found many memories of the Hunter's past before she came to them, she had found nothing that might tie her to the Traveler of her time or their own.
"I have not." She said.
Eris's voice betrayed the regret she felt. ~ "I shall inform The Vanguard that we might indeed lose Rose. Thank you, My Queen." ~
Saix caught Vlad's arm as they made the last jump from the multiple Hive ships coming back and forth in the Dreadnaught, Orion and Kai keeping an eye out for any Hive or Taken that might attack while Rose and Arielle continued to wait for the last ship to carry them through to them.
"Damn that was a pain in the ass." Arielle said as they at last reached the end and jumped down to the solid ground again.
~ "You're gonna love this." ~ Vlad said from ahead of them. ~ "Hive and that Knight we were fighting before. No sign of the Wizard though." ~
"If that Wizard is that traitor, then that Knight must be Cross-29." Saix stated. "He's been on my hunt list for the attack and mass murder of twenty civilian families."
"Then where is Emma?" Arielle asked as they joined up watching the Knight pace back and forth while the Hive prayed to another open portal.
"No idea and really I don't care." Saix said. "Cross and that whore are bad enough."
"They all die." Kai said, "Lord Saladin wants all the Warlord dead for their crimes, no matter how it happens."
"That was a given." Arielle said. "Gun's blazing?" she asked.
"No, too many," Orion said, "Rose, you and Saix stay up here, Kai you and Vlad go right, me and Arielle will go left. When I give the signal, focus the Knight and then take out the little fuckers."
"If you have your arrows Rose, try and get the Knight and the Hive at the back, we'll do the rest." Saix said patting the side of his sniper rifle. "Black Spindle has a few words to have with that Knight."
"Got it." Rose nodded and waited for the signal from Orion.
When a flaming Hammer flew through the air, Rose released her arrows and then unloaded her rifle into the smaller Hive as Saix fired at the Knight.
"Watch out!" Arielle yelled suddenly as something cold and sharp grabbed Rose from behind and heaved her up. "Rose?!"
"Get off me!" Rose snarled and stabbed her dagger into the Arm holding her dropped to the ground and rolling before the burst of poison could strike her. "Why is everyone after me?" She asked, ducking for cover and firing back, taking down the Wizard with a head shot.
"Because you're the one that killed Crota." Saix suggested. "Or they just really hate Hunters." He added ducking for cover as the Knight got free of the Void tether from Rose and charged them.
"More Hive coming in!" Orion yelled.
~ "Vanguard calling." ~ Vakarian stated.
"We're busy. Tell 'em to wait." Arielle yelled over the gunfire.
~ "They say it's urgent." ~ Wrex said.
"It can wait!" Orion yelled.
~ "Ok." ~
"Shit these fuckers just keep coming!" Kai yelled jumping back with Vlad as they tossed down their grenades.
"Watch your fire! We're running low!" Orion yelled.
"This is bad." Rose winced ducking for cover.
He watched them carefully, making sure to keep his eye on the bright light who slayed his son.
It was getting brighter the more of his Hive and Taken it killed, but it was also starting to show signs of fading from the edges of its reach, like a worn and old light was starting to die out, unlike the other lights around it, that showed little signs of age at all.
Strange.
It was as if this Light was somehow connected to an older source of Light and was only borrowing the Light of those around it.
"Ir Halak. Ir Anûk." He said and the two looked to him. "Go, prepare for their arrival. Ir Yût. Fetch me that shard you have been keeping."
"Yes Sire." The three stated as they floated off, Ir Yût returning moments later with the tainted shard of the Traveler his Son had managed to corrupt before they gained control of the Vex technology.
Oryx took the shard and looked back to the Light, watching as the shard that had been slowly draining of pure light for so long, seemed to gain a slight glow to it before the Light he had been watching grew brighter.
"This Light is connected to the world we left?" Ir Yût asked. "How is that possible? Everything was destroyed by the insect race."
"It does not matter." He smirked, "This Light is the last of its kin, and the only way for the light of this shard to save itself." He stated and stabbed a sharp claw into the glowing shard.
Rose screamed as something burned from deep inside her, pain racing through her light, her gun clattering to the floor as she clutched her chest.
"Rose?!" Arielle yelled in worry. "Rose what's happening?!"
"What the hell is going on up there!?" Orion demanded. "Saix?"
"I don't know! She's not been hit!" Saix yelled back.
Vlad fired Thorn at the Hive trying to grab at Rose while she was down before throwing down a smoke grenade to buy them some time. "Rose? Rose talk to me, what's wrong?"
"It's the Traveler!" Bing said and much to everyone's shock he sounded in just as much pain as Rose. "Our Traveler! It's here! It's hurting!"
"Where!?" Arielle demanded, "How do we make it stop?"
} Pathetic Light! You cannot save your friend! { A chilling voice mocked as Rose screamed again, enough for Bing to force himself out of her armour and try to cure her pain with the light form his shell. } What Crota Began, I will finish! {
"Damn it!" Vlad hissed looking around the room, noticing there were no more Hive pouring from the doorways. "Arielle take out these Hive!"
"Gladly!" the Warlock growled and unleashed her storm once more, cutting down the last of the Hive before she and the others scrambled to where Rose was staring to regain her footing, only to stagger again and fall, panting heavily and shaking violently.
"Sovereign, contact the Vanguard." Vlad commanded.
~ "Yes Vlad." ~
~ "About time, we need to tell you-" ~ Cayde-6 began.
"Later! Rose is hurt, her Traveler is somehow still connected to her and Oryx is using it to hurt her!" Vlad yelled cutting the Vanguard off.
~ "Use your Ghosts' Light to sooth her." ~ Eris stated. ~ "It will only help for a time, but when it wears off the pain will return, you must do this quickly." ~
"How do we stop it happening again?" Arielle asked, kneeling beside Rose and carefully lifting Bing from the floor where he had fallen, his shell shaking and trembling in her palm.
~ "We cannot do anything about that." ~ Ikora said. ~ "It is what we've been trying to contact you about." ~
"What do you mean?" Rose asked as the Ghosts bathed her in their light, at last chasing away the sudden pains. "What's happening?"
~ "Rose. You aren't connected to our Traveler, your using borrowed light to survive." ~ Ikora explained, sounding grim and defeated, ~ "The Vex technology didn't remove you fully from your world, it only misplaced your body. Your light is still tied to your Traveler and thus, your world. The pain you felt will only going to get worse until you…" ~
"Until I what?" Rose asked, slowly getting to her feet again. "Tell me."
Eris spoke up, though she sounded just as grim as Ikora. ~ "Ikora has found evidence that Oryx still hold the technology Crota and the Fallen used to come here after you and all her research has shown that when Oryx is defeated, he and his Dreadnaught will disappear from this time. And so will everything that came with him, his Hive, the Fallen, the Tia Ravens and you." ~
"We… we'll disappear?" Bing asked sounding scared and shocked as his shell began to slowly stop shaking and regain the ability to float.
"How can that be? We've been here so long, grown so strong on this worlds light and- no, that can't be right. There has to be a mistake somewhere." Rose said.
~ "It is the conclusion to all of my research and study," ~ Ikora said. ~ "I have searched the scrolls, data pads, books and writings for another answer, a way to keep you here when this is over, but I cannot find any other conclusion." ~ She explained. ~ "I'm sor-" ~
"What about the Speaker? Master Rahool? Master Ives? The Tech Witches?" Arielle yelled in anger. "Someone has to know a way to stop that happening! Rose can't just disappear! She can't go back to her own time! There's nothing there! We saw it all destroyed!"
~ "We are still searching." ~ Eris said, ~ "But it would have been cruel of us to let you continue this mission without knowing what will happen." ~
"Should we go back?" Saix asked after the comms shut off.
"No." Rose said much to everyone's surprise, "We came here to stop Oryx doing to this world what was done to mine. We can't just leave now." She went on.
"But you'll-"
"I watched my world and friends without me, if we don't stop Oryx now, the same thing will happen again here." Rose said cutting Orion off. "Eris said they were still searching, maybe they'll figure it out, or maybe Ikora's mistaken." She added.
For a time there was silence and then Arielle spoke up. "Are you sure you want to keep going? Knowing that you might not still be here in the end?"
Rose nodded.
"Then you'll need a new gun." The warlock said picking up the now broken rifle Rose had been using.
"Here." Vlad said taking out a silver barrelled Hand Cannon with feathers etched in the side. "The Hawkmoon. My lucky charm when Thorn is in the shop." He explained.
"Thanks." Rose smiled and after a moment to make sure she was able to walk without falling over they moved through to the next room.
Ikora searched over everything she had found for what felt like the millionth time, Lindor and Eris beside her as they helped search and check everything, searching for something, some kind of way to keep Rose with them.
She could hear a soft sound from Eris and knew the tainted Hunter had a comm channel open to the Reef where the Queen had ordered the Witches to search for something to help keep Rose in their world.
It seemed however that such a thing did not exist.
Still Ikora looked, searching over and over for some kind of solution to their trouble.
Someone placed a hot coffee next to her as Terrik and another Warlock, dressed in blue and black handed Lindor a hot coco drink. "Where haven't we looked yet?" The Warlock asked, placing down several old books and a half dozen scrolls she'd brought with her.
"We haven't touched the back of the library yet," Lindor said and the other female Warlock nodded. "Saix brief you?"
"Said Vlad's girlfriend was in some trouble and if I didn't find a way of stopping her from fading, Vlad, Arielle and Orion wouldn't be in the best of moods for a long time." She nodded. "So here I am and I brought everything I could from the Iron Wolves library, maybe we'll find something in there."
"Thank you Anna Lee." Ikora nodded, downing her drink in one long pull as Terrik headed to the back of the Library to aid their search for answers while Anna Lee opened the books she had brought with her.
It was a nice thought, that maybe with them all looking, they'd find a way to keep Rose with them, but deep down, Ikora still doubted it.
Then a thought struck her. "Maybe," She began and then bolted from the Library and raced up the stairs so fast she made a nearby frame fall over.
"Shit this guy just doesn't want to go down!" Kai yelled tossing hammer after hammer at the War Priest while Vlad released arrows to keep the priest from moving too much, Orion's hammers also bombarding the War Priest and Saix's Golden Gun while Rose and Arielle were clearing out Acolytes and Taken around them.
"You ok Rose?" Arielle asked.
"I can still feel pain but it's not as bad." Rose admitted, gritting her teeth as she shot a taken Knight in the head.
"We'll get you through this," the Warlock assured, trying to sound like she was certain of that statement.
"Thanks." Rose said with a weak smile as the War Priest roared and the room flooded with light. "Shit!"
"Hide!" Orion yelled as they sheltered from the light in the shadow of the last pillar feeling the energy in the room shatter it behind them. "He's almost dead. You got arrows Rose?" he asked.
"Almost." Rose nodded.
"Good, when you have them, yell and we'll hit this fucker with everything." Orion nodded.
"Got it."
The War Priest snarled and bellowed in Hive, cursing the Lights as they scattered again and avoided his shots while taking down more of the Hive around him.
"NOW!" Rose yelled as her arrows cut through the air and struck the War Priest in the head, torso and stomach.
"Let him have it!" Orion bellowed as they all focused their fire on the huge form, rockets and sniper bullets flying with little pause between them as the War Priest staggered and fell with an almighty roar.
"Rose?" Vlad asked as Rose clutched her chest again.
"I'm alright." She hissed. "We need to keep going."
"Son of a bitch is still hurting her." Kai said, "Could our Ghosts sooth her again?"
"No, bringing them out just makes them a target and they need their light to revive you if something happens." Rose said, "I'll be ok. It's not so bad anymore."
"Are you sure?" Orion asked.
"Yes." Rose nodded though Orion doubted it, her voice was strained and her body was stiff. She was in pain a lot of pain, but she was trying to hide it, likely the helmet made that easier, but it didn't make the pain in her voice.
"Alright." Orion said, "We keep going."
"Foolish Light." Oryx chuckled. "Release Golgoroth and see to it he is angry." He ordered, and Thalnok bowed, leaving the chamber.
Oryx then turned to Ir Yût. "Infect the Light's mind. If we cannot break it with physical pain, let us see how far her mentality holds."
"Yes Sire." Ir Yût bowed and focused on the Light that had slayed Crota.
} "I think not." { A voice stated as Ir Yût was thrown back into the wall with such force Oryx heard and felt the impact himself. } "You will not torment her or any others so long as I live." {
Oryx clenched his fists as a burning purple shimmer suddenly surrounded the Lights that travelled in his realm. "You shall suffer for this."
} "Not as much as you will suffer when they reach you." {
Variks stood before the Queen's throne room doors staff in hand and surrounded by Guards, Hunters and Titans, Warlocks were in the Library, searching for answers while the Witches, the Queen, her brother and those few the Queen knew were of strong mind and will, meditated, forming an impenetrable wall between the Hive Minds and the Minds of the Guardians on the Dreadnaught.
The Queen knew it would become a strain the longer they held the wall, their mental will was strong together, but only as strong as their weakest member, but if it kept Oryx and his wickedness away from the minds of her Sister and her friends, she would hold the wall and she would keep Oryx away for as long as she could.
She wouldn't allow this Beast to torment the mind of the Hunter who had already given so much and she wouldn't allow this Beast destroy the happiness Arielle had found.
If this was the way she aided her sister, unseen and unheard from the shadows by all but those who were of keen mind, then so be it.
Arielle paused a moment then smiled, sending a silent 'thank you' to the Queen as they continued, slowly picking their way around the darkness of some kind of maze, hearing a terrible thundering pounding ahead of them that could only be an Ogre.
That was proved when they left the Maze and came to a large door way where the dead bodies of Hive laid slain and partly devoured. "I think we found Phogoth's big brother." Orion said, "bigger, nastier and a shit tone uglier." He added as they huddles around eth door, hiding from the huge beast's gaze as it roared and snarled, searching the dead hive for something.
Rose landed against the wall, struggling to breath for a moment while rubbing her chest where the pain persisted. "Ideas?" she asked.
"He looks like Phogoth, so I'm guessing he'll go down the same way." Orion said.
"He's also got venom and a stronger eye beam." Vlad said looking at his cards from Eris. "Name's Golgoroth and his weak spot closes up if we don't hold is attention long enough." He added.
"Anyway to speed this up?" Saix added, "Because I don't think she's part of the deal." He added pointing out the Taken Wizard in the back of the room.
Vlad growled but stopped when Rose slid to the ground trembling despite her best efforts to stand up again, Bing falling from her armour into her hands trembling and twitching in his own pain.
"They can't take much more of this." Arielle said as Vakarian opened his shell and bathed to two in his own light. "All of you, switch to your Arc abilities and train your Ghosts on me." She said.
"No, Ari that'll over charge you, you burn yourself out." Saix stated, "I've seen how bad that can be."
"I'm older and stronger that Anna Lee," Arielle reminded, "I can handle more, enough to bring down that monster and give that bitch a few more burns to worry about." She added looking at Rose, "We need to hurry or we'll lose her."
"Are you sure you can handle four Arc inputs?" Orion asked.
"I handled the storm at its strongest. I can handle this." Arielle nodded adjusting her gantlets. "And it is going to work." She assured as lightning danced around her arms and then her whole body as the Ghosts focused their Guardian's energy into her.
"Getting attention." Saix nodded slipping away using his smoke grenade to move unseen for a time.
Rose didn't hear a lot of the sounds after that, she clutched Bing close to her chest, keeping him hidden from Oryx's gaze, she knew he had to be watching, how else could he have known they were there? He was watching all of them and she refused to let him take away her Ghost as he had done so many other Ghosts.
"Bing." She hissed softly. "S-sto-ah! Oh! Stop trying to-to sooth me. It-it's only going- ah! Going to make you-oh! Hurt more."
"You're hurting." Bing stated. "I'm not going to stop, not until you get better."
"I can handle it." Rose tried to lie. "Please. You don't-ah! Have to go through this with me."
"It's what Ghosts do." Bing said stubbornly. "I'm not stopping." He added.
Rose smiled and clutched her Ghost closer as she heard Orion snarl in anger and bullets shoot from their guns, she lightly pushed Bing back into her armour, keeping his safe and hidden from the violence as she always had.
Arielle unleashed everything she had been gathering own her arms with an all mighty challenging cry, focusing everything into the pulsating light on Golgoroth's chest, while Vlad unloaded his weapon into the Taken Wizard as it tried to charge Arielle, though he stayed close to Rose, knowing she wasn't able to fend for herself as well as she needed to.
"Arielle." Vlad stated seeing Arielle's coat tails start to char. "It's getting too much!"
"I can handle it!" Arielle snarled forcing more lightning down her arms, ignoring the tingling numbness that started to crawl from her fingers down into her hands and arms.
"Arielle cut off." Kai yelled. "He's going down!"
"He isn't dead yet." Arielle hissed, ignoring the pain creeping down to her heart.
"Ari!" Orion yelled and grabbed Arielle by the back of the coat and pulled her out of the way of an orb Golgoroth had released, the Ogre roaring in agony as it staggered and at last fell to the ground, bleeding and charred badly as Kai and Vlad emptied their weapons into it and the Wizard for good measure.
"Orion?" Arielle gasped seeing the armour that had been on his arm badly charred and cracked from the amount of arc energy he'd suffered grabbing her. "Idiot!"
"You'd have died if I hadn't pulled you back." Orion stated as he nodded to the blast impact on the floor where the orb had struck. "The Ogre is dead and the Wizard is about to follow, you did enough." He added looking at the gauntlets on Arielle's arms, blackened and charred from the sheer amount of Arc energy they had been channelling. "I know what too much Arc energy does to a Warlock who overcharges."
Arielle ducked her head, she'd lost her temper and he knew it, while it would mean she couldn't use the full extent of her storm for a while now, it did mean that they could advance at last. The Wizard gave an ear splitting hiss and scream of rage as Saix slammed his foot into its back and levelled a shot with its head at point blank range.
"Not so fast." Vlad warned, levelling the Thorn at the Taken Wizard. "She's mine."
"Fine by me." Saix assured lowering his gun but didn't let the Wizard up.
"Take Rose on ahead," Vlad said as Arielle and Orion helped Rose stand between them, walking her through the room, away from what they knew was about to happen.
Slowly, the four of them made their way along a long seemingly endless tunnel, scrambling over the walls and slowly jumping their way across the bottomless drop beneath them.
"We're getting close to Oryx." Kai said as he led the way, making sure the path forwards was clear.
"How do you figure that?" Orion asked.
"Because Rose is getting worse." Kai said grimly, sending his Ghost back to try and help soothe the pain the hunter was in. "And trouble." He huffed as they reached a large round room and the only way out was the climb.
"I can make it." Rose panted and slowly they began their climb, every move burned with agony, like a cold dagger was rapidly stabbing at every nerve end and muscle in her body as she fought to climb the pillar.
Vlad and Saix caught up with them, Vlad moving to help Rose as she paused to catch her breath while Saix reached the near top with Orion, Kai and Arielle.
"Come on Rose, we're almost there." Vlad said helping Rose climb onto a higher ledge, passing his weapons up to Orion so his hands were free to help Rose up, lifting her up as Arielle reached down and helped pull Rose up over the edge.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Vlad asked quietly as he stayed with Rose so she could catch her breath while the others went on ahead. "Fight Oryx knowing you'll disappear?" he added.
"I- I have to do this." Rose panted rubbing her chest as the pain got worse. "I could- couldn't save my world. B-b-but maybe I can save yours."
"At the cost of your own life?" Vlad asked putting a hand to her shoulder. "You have a whole lot of things to do and live for, do you truly want to cut that all short just to save us?"
"If it means you are safe from the same-ah! Same fate as my world, then doing this is, is worth it." She nodded leaning on him for support, "You've all done, so- so much for me, even though I'm not from here. I owe you this, even if I can't be here to share the benefits." She added as he held her, trying to chase away the pains from her body with an embrace, "Be-besides, if I do fade out of this, this time at the end of this. It just means, in my next life-ah! If we met again, you will owe me a bigger dinner."
Vlad smiled and nodded. "You won't fade out Rose." He said, "I promise." He added gently rubbing her back as he helped her stand again.
"Thank you." Rose smiled weakly.
"Oh fuck." Saix said.
"What is it?" Orion asked.
"Two Deathsingers on a podium each and one between them holding what I'm guessing is the shard from Rose's Traveler." Kai explained.
"There must be something we can do." Ikora pleaded, "You speak to the Traveler, you hear the words and you tell us what is said, why couldn't it work both ways?"
"I did not say it wouldn't, Ikora, but I have never tried to ask for something such as this, all I have ever asked is that the Guardians be given the guidance they need to keep the City and the Traveler save from the Darkness." The Speaker explained.
"We must try." Ikora stated. "Rose has done all she can to aid us, she is the last survivor of the world she came from," she added, "She just can't disappear. Not now, it would destroy Vlad and the others."
"I can only ask, Ikora." The Speaker said. "Beyond that, it is up to the Traveler." He added looking at the huge white sphere that protected them in silence.
The Deathsingers were not easily shot.
They were able to protect each other with large barriers, cutting any attempt to do harm off before it got close. The three taking it in turns to jab their claws into the Shard leaving Rose unable to fight as she sheltered and took shots sparingly as the pain became too much to focus through. The shard itself was brittle, held together by the Deathsingers spells, it would shatter otherwise.
"There has to be a way to stop this." Rose hissed watching her friends duck and dodge attacks that could kill them if they hit. "Think. Think. Think. How do we get out of this? How do we stop the pain?"
"The shard." Bing said, marking the shard on Rose's radar. "Get rid of the shard and they can't hurt us."
"Can't. You'll feel the shot. In the state we're in." Rose shook her head. "I can't. If I shoot the shard you could die. I can't lose you."
"It's that or we watch our friends die." Bing said. "I'll be ok. As long as I'm inside you armour I'm safe." He quoted. "Remember."
Rose gave a small nodded. "Ok." She said and then forced herself up and levelled Her Benevolence at the shard as it hung suspended high above them. "Forgive me."
"I already have." Bing assured quietly, bracing himself for the pain that was about to come.
*Bang*
Ir Yût screamed in fury as the bullet cut through her and struck the shard hard, forcing their song to silence for just a moment and the shard burst into a blinding rush of light, burning the Deathsingers as they tried to flee the sudden brightness.
Rose dropped to her knees, the pain gone at last, but the sensation leaving her winded and tingling.
The Queen could feel the wall weakening around her, her witches were starting to feel the strain and she could feel a dull ache growing in her mind, but she ignored it, she had to keep the walls up.
She had to keep Oryx out of the minds of the Guardians.
Sadness and devastation suddenly swelled within the Hunter's mind, over and over repeating some kind of prayer, some pleading to the Traveler that something was just a bad dream, a horrible nightmare that would end.
Carefully, the Queen reached out and saw what had brought Rose such sadness, as she saw a second mind reach out from further away and surrounded the Hunter with a green taint.
"Are you alright?" Orion asked helping the Hunter back to her feet as Arielle and Vlad scanned around for any threat.
"We are." Rose nodded. "Right Bing?"
Bing said nothing.
"Bing?" Rose asked again and tried to summon her Ghost only to have him drop out of the air into her palm without a word or sound, his optic dull. "Bing?!"
"Shit!" Arielle yelled as Oryx's huge form hauled itself up from the shadows below and glared down at them. "Oryx is here!"
"Bing? Bing, talk to me!" Rose pleaded trying to get some kind of response from her Ghost as he remained still and silent in her hands. "Little Light!? Ghost?! Answer me! Please! Bing?!"
} Your Traveller's light cannot reach you here! Your pathetic shells cannot live without its Light. { The giant Hive King laughed. } You took my son and for that, you and your Light will die. What Crota began, I shall finish. Vengeance shall be mine. {
"Son of a bitch!" Vlad snarled and unloaded a whole clip of Thorn's ammo into the Hive King's face only for the huge King to catch the bullets in the palm of his hand without so much as a flinch.
} Come for me, warriors of Light. { Oryx challenged with a bellowing laugh, rising himself up further as his shadow fell over them. } Your Lights die here! {
"Bing…?" Rose pleaded again, clutching the shell of her Ghost close to her chest. "Please… Please talk to me. Tell me you're ok. Please!" The Ghost said nothing, silent and still in her palms as tears ran down her face. "Bing!"
}"You must fight."{ A familiar voice told her as a soft green tint formed around her Ghost. }"Use your grief and fight, fight for him as you fought to for the Queen and all your friends since you came to us. Fight now, Rose and show this Beast to his end."{
"Come on Rose!" Arielle yelled back, unloading her shots into the huge King's face, searching for a weak spot. "We have to fight!"
"He's moving too fast!" Kai yelled jumping aside to avoid being crushed under Oryx's fists.
}"Fight!"{
Rose placed Bing back into her armour and turned, drawing back her bow and releasing an arrow into Oryx's arm, chest and neck, tossing her smoke grenade into his face before she began to unload the last of her sniper ammo into the King.
"What the hell?" Kai asked.
"Plan B!" Rose snarled.
"Got it!" Vlad and Saix yelled throwing all caution to the wind and began to bombard Oryx with their weapons fire.
"Plan B?" Arielle asked.
"Bombardment and Butchery!" Vlad yelled over the gunshots.
"Hit his chest! Right over where the heart should be!" Saix suddenly yelled hitting his chest area with such force that Oryx seemed to struggle to catch his breath suddenly.
"You heard the man!" Orion yelled aiming and firing his rocket launcher while waiting for his super to finish building up. Arielle smiled and focused her shots in rapid clusters at the King's chest.
Oryx snarled and fell from their sight for a moment and the group searched the room for any sign of him.
"Where is he?" Vlad hissed.
"Move!" Saix yelled as the Hive King's clawed hand came smashing down on them from above.
Rose rolled and turned, aiming the Hawkmoon at Oryx's chest again, only for the bullet to bounce off. "Shit!"
"Fuck, we're surrounded!" Said yelled unloading his hard light into the Taken that had appeared.
"This isn't good!" Vlad snarled as they took cover from Oryx's suddenly onslaught of blasts and Taken.
"Never is!" Orion yelled as he and Kai reached for their hammers, turning the floor around them into a burning mess while Arielle pulled Rose into cover.
"Is he-?" The warlock asked and Rose shook her head putting a hand to her chest where Bing's shell was housed.
"He's not responding." Rose said grimly and Arielle was sure she heard a tremble in her voice.
"It could be temporary." The Warlock said trying to give the Hunter some hope to cling too while they fought but when no answer came she realized her attempt had failed.
} Fools! You cannot defeat me! { Oryx laughed. } I will feats on your light! {
"The hell you will," Saix said and dropped to one knee, levelling the Black Spindle at the Hive King's heart and fire, at eth same time Vlad released his arrows, "Suck on that ya' Fucker!"
"Hit him with everything!" Orion yelled, tossing the last of his hammers at Oryx's chest before unlading the last of his rockets into the Hive King as Vlad and Saix unloaded Thorn and Hard Light into the Hive God's chest as Arielle and Rose shot in close short clusters making sure they were hitting the same area as Oryx snarled and tried to grab them in his claws.
Rose pulled her back her bow string and release her arrows into the Hive King's chest, two direct hits that seemed to burn the King's chest away with each strike as Arielle and Orion tossed their grenades up at the Hive King, Thorn and Saix unloaded the last of their ammo into him.
} This cannot be! { Oryx bellowed in anger as he tried to keep himself from falling away from his ship. } I will not be defeated! {
"Wanna bet?" Rose asked and released the last arrow, feeling the world slow down around her as it cut through the air, spinning through the Hive King's claws as he tried to stop the arrows flight only to be knocked backwards from the force of the impact and flung from his ship.
} NO! {
Rose felt the world pause for a moment, everything stood still as something warm and gentle reached from the darkness and wrapped around her like a warm blanket, flooding her with calmness and ease.
"Thank you."
The room flooded with bright light, forcing everyone to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded as Oryx was sent flailing and cartwheeling through space towards Saturn.
Arielle recovered first, watching the black form that had been Oryx slowly start to fade away into Saturn's surface, their comms erupting with joyful cheers and victory calls as Taken apparently 'disappeared' from the fight, leaving only the hollow Shell of the Dreadnaught behind.
Saix and Kai quietly stepped away from Vlad, Arielle and Orion as the three stood looking at the fallen weapons laid where their friend had once stood, out of respect the two did not join the cheering around them, and instead sent a silent report back to the Tower.
A victory had been won, but at a price no one had wanted to pay.
"A good victory." Illyn stated from behind her Queen, but her voice was just that slightest bit shaken.
"At much too high a cost." The Queen of the Reef stated. "Search for any trace of her mentally. From here and beyond the Reef." She ordered standing from her place and leaving the chamber to her privet room, shoving the doors closed and locking them before the rest of the Reef could see the anger on her face.
It was unfair. She was forbidden from saying such things aloud about the fate of Guardians not sworn to her like Arielle, they were not her concern, but such a loss was unfair, it was unnecessary and unforgivable. The Hunter had given everything and even at the very end, her final thoughts had not been for herself, but for those around her.
Could the Traveler be so cruel as to allow such a bright and endearing spark of light to fade away into the darkness?
Ikora paced back and forth outside the room the Speaker was working within, wringing her hands and trying to keep her mind from going into dark places as she waited.
Slowly the doors opened and Ikora held her breath as the Speaker quietly exited the room and closed the doors behind him. "It is up to the Traveler now." He said.
~ "Rose?" ~ Cayde-6 asked over the comms as their ships left the Dreadnaught in silence.
No one answered.
~ "I'm sorry Arielle." ~ Lindor stated. ~ "We tried to find something, but nothing panned out." ~
"Not your fault, Lindor." Arielle said though she sounded weary and tired, nothing like a Warlock who had just slain and Hive King.
~ "Do you think," ~ Wrex began to ask. ~ "That we will see her again?" ~
"No idea." Orion said, his voice heavy and grim like Arielle's. "We don't know if she's lost in time or if she just got thrown back to her own place in the universe."
~ "So maybe she'll come back." ~ Sovereign stated, though Vlad remained silent. He was silent the entire flight back to the Tower, silent through the debriefing and silent the whole walk back to their room.
Arielle and Orion didn't ask questions, they didn't need to know why he was quiet and so instead they let him go into his room and seal the door while they set about cleaning themselves and their armour and weapons up now the mission was over, politely ignoring the metallic sounds beyond the door that they knew was an Exo sobbing.
Arielle swiped a hand across her check to catch the tears that had started to fall as she continued to clean her armour, even as Orion gently pulled her into a hug. "It's not fair."
"Life is never fair." Orion reminded, "She lost everything that meant something to her and had to watch it happen while she was safe here with us. Then she lost her Ghost and now," he sighed and shook his head, "Now we've lost her."
Arielle's shoulders trembled as she tried to hold back, "It shouldn't have happened. She's been here so long, used the light of our Traveler, gotten stronger, why did she have to disappear?" she asked as sparks began to creep between her gantlets.
"If I knew the answer, I'd find a way to bring her back." Orion said, "Heck I'd give up my Hammers Light I have to bring her back if I could." He added feeling the tears fall on to his shoulder.
"It's not fair." Arielle repeated and Orion held her, he couldn't think of anything he could say that would make this better, he couldn't just go to the Vanguard and demand they fix this, he knew the Queen had some power over Awoken, but he doubted she had the ability to reach through time and space and just pluck someone from point A and drop them in Point B.
So he sat with Arielle, letting her cry while he waited for some kind of miracle or sign that Rose would just reappear in the room, smiling and happy like she was before, with Bing sat on her head, trying to balance and buzzing in frustration at being called cute.
