A/N: First, Bungie and Activision own Destiny, not me. Second, sorry about this newer delay. Been fighting my laptop to stay connected to the internet. I think I need to get a new one... Damn.

CH. 2: Bump in the Night

Cold and lifeless, that was all that surrounded the young Eliksni as he stared towards the small altar built before him. His quarters felt equally lifeless as they were dark and held little décor. The obvious focus being on the armor and weapon rack that had the small altar before it. After a few moments the warrior closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Bringing peace to his war torn mind. But as the darkness consumed his vision, his mind exploded into action. Visions of his many fights returning along with his many kills and his narrow victories over his foes. But lastly an image of a solitary dead Captain lay before him. Broken and beaten the legendary warrior's own weapon pierced through his body, and left to rot with no honor by his enemy.

The Eliksni, Avarek Tai the son of the deceased Elder Captain Sorric Tai, snapped his eyes open as he stared at the worn and beaten armor that had belonged to his father. It had seen many years of conflict and even more under the use of Avarek, one day this armor and weapon would be a true relic and something all the sapient species would come to revere and fear. If not through his father's or his own exploits, it would fall on his own child to continue this litany of rage.

He brooded on the legend he was building for himself and of his father for a moment longer before he grunted and lumbered up to his feet. Bowing his head to the altar and armor once more he reached forward as he did so. Slowly removing the armor piece by piece, he placed it upon his body and said murmured hunting prayers with each piece. He would be after a large prey this day and it would do to be prepared and possibly petition for a little help from the other side of the Great Storm.

Avarek almost snorted in disgust of the thought of the Great Storm, what came to be after the Whirlwind had torn his people apart. He kept his reaction in as he finished armoring himself. He would not dishonor his father, nor their traditions in this place. He was devoted to honor and glory of his name. With that he slid the helmet over his head and let the clamps seal automatically. The armor was still slightly larger than he was, but he was growing into it quite well.

With a final prayer he took the shock spear that was still mounted and slowly started to spin it in his hands. Testing the weight that he already knew was balanced very well. After so many years of use it was still reliable and sturdy. Taking a few practice slashes and jabs for good measure, Avarek deemed the weapon ready and made his way out. Pausing by the door he looked over his shoulder at the altar once more. His mother and father would be proud of him when he passed through the Storm one day to greet them. He knew it.

.

"You are very late. You know that, right?" Starr's synthetic voice called out to the Titan who had descended from his ship. Her companions spared her a glance before they went back to analyzing how badly Raz's armor looked. The man looked like he had been rolling in a bed of flaming swords.

"Not only that," Teira started, "you look like you are about to keel over, Old Man." She heard the larger man grunt in amusement and she let a smile touch her lips as she approached him. "But what did happen to you?"

She would have pressed him with more questions if he hadn't abruptly held out the bundle in front of her. She looked at it pensively before taking it from his hand and was surprised by the sudden weight it brought down on her arms. It was slightly larger than most conventional gifts. But she had learned long ago that any and all of her friends were anything but conventional. So she chalked it up to his own eccentric behaviors.

"Was running a bounty on Luna, fought some Hive." Raz flexed one of his arms comically. "Plus this, 'Old Man' has a few new tricks he has been practicing. That is why I appear a little well done." His helmet dematerialized and they all could see a smirk plastered to his face as he regarded them.

Teira nodded and chuckled lightly as she started to unwrap the bundle. She paused as she saw the handle and the cross guard it led to. It was another sword, it was huge and she looked at Raz for clarification.

"Well, I figured you would want another one. The one you currently have is from the American Civil War, yeah? This one is a Zwei-Hander. An old German weapon. Spotted this little guy when I was running patrol and I had Twinkles clean it up for you." Raz watched her as she continued to examine the weapon as she pulled the rest of the oiled cloth off of it. Revealing the long gleaming blade in the light of the hangar.

"Thank you Raz, really." She murmured. "I wish you could have come earlier, or had invited us to the moon with you." She looked back up and she paused as she saw a different look in Raz's blue eyes. They were cold and distant. But it was gone quickly and they were warm and inviting once again. But she knew she had seen it.

"Well, it was rather quick to happen." Raz began as he spread his hands out. "A hapless Warlock implored me to aid him on this venture and said we had to leave immediately. We went rather deep into the Hellmouth so forgive me if I am a little tired."

"No, I understand. I had a full day as well and should retire myself." The two nodded. Teira hadn't noticed that the two Hunters had already left, probably had stated hurried goodbyes before leaving. "I wish you well, Raz." The man nodded in return.

"Rest well, young Teira. These days do not grow easy." With that said the Titan departed. Leaving her to think on his last choice of words and ultimately shelve them for later. The man was growing more complicated.

"Teira." The voice of Erunan came softly beside her. "The report from the Thunder came in, unless you would rather see it in the morning." She shook her head at her partner.

"No, let's go see to it."

.

There were few Guardians up and about at this time of night in the Tower. Mostly just stragglers from the lounge or late missions. They all looked drunken with how they all stumbled around in an attempt to get to their rooms. Some didn't make it very far, and it was up to the custodial Frames to lug the collapsed "Hopes of the Light" back to their rooms and into their beds. Some of them were just pathetic.

Jo spat on the grass beside her as she watched a Hunter collapse when attempting to climb a flight of stairs. The man had failed on the first step and just laid stupidly on the ground groaning like a zombie. Totally worthless, just like that stupid oaf she had been worrying about all day. As well as the past week, all of this besides the last year and a half he had been vanishing randomly. She ground her teeth together as she reached beside her and pulled another bottle out of the case near her. Ripping the cap off with just a twist of her fingers she felt the burn of alcohol as she downed half the bottle in a single go.

Exhaling sharply after she swallowed she closed her eyes. Damn. This is what she was reduced to, she knew better than to wallow in booze. She had done that before when she first became a Guardian and then she met Sage and soon after that, Archivia. If the two knew she was out here getting shit faced drunk, well they would hang her by her thumbs outside the Vanguard's chambers is what they would likely do.

"It's all that stupid man's fault. He keeps leaving without a word and never stays long when he does come back." She groaned as she went to drink again.

The bottle never touched her lips and she opened her eyes and stared stupidly at her hand. Trying to figure out how the bottle had vanished and was not filling her with the bitter elixir of forgetfulness before leading her into a hangover in the morning. When the empty bottle clinked against the small grouping she already had, her glowing eyes swept slowly to the large man who had finished it for her.

Dressed in dark jeans, and a simple blue v-neck shirt was the same man she was blaming for her drinking problems. She smiled stupidly to herself as she looked at him again. She really did know how to dress him, the goof had apparently never gone shopping on his own. Or so she claimed, and so she had gotten rid of anything he had picked for himself. Only for her to replace his whole wardrobe with what she thought would look good on him, well, for her at least.

"Going to share the others with me? Or am I going to have to steal those too?" He questioned her with a raised eyebrow. The smirk he had showed a few teeth and she subconsciously handed him another so he could start that one. Noticing that she was still staring at him he looked at her. "What?"

"You have a new scar." She muttered as she ran a hand over the angry red scar that started near his collarbone and ended halfway up his neck. "What were you fighting?" She wasn't going to ask stupid questions, deeper into the Darkness one ventured the more likely you were to scar. The Ghosts could only do so much with the Darkness trying to snuff them out while inside their Guardians.

"This was from a Thrall. Was in the Hellmouth for a bounty with Sushi. Things went sideways pretty fast." Raz finished as he sipped his drink while he thought.

"You should have called for backup before you left. You can't keep going on these reckless missions." She chided him as she opened a new bottle for herself. "Welcome back, love." She added the comment right before covering her mouth with the bottle and taking a few swallows.

"I missed you too, Jo." Raz smiled at her and she felt her cheeks heat up under his gaze and forcing her to turn her head to hide her blush. "So after we finish off the case shall we head up to our room?"

Raz didn't need an answer to that question, he got it in how Jo had shifted closer to him and was leaning against him while they drank in silence. Her small hand rested on his thigh as he propped his arm behind her so she wouldn't tip if she decided to lean in a different direction. He kicked his legs out and looked up at the stars that weren't blocked by the constant storms around the city, or by the Traveler. He grimaced slightly, but went back to staring at the stars. They always seemed to relax him. The fact that they illuminated the night sky in patterns and were silent. Not doing anything to harm him or disturb him in any way. It was just peaceful, and looking up at them with Jo put a smile on his face.

It didn't take him long to feel Jo nuzzling into his chest as she tried to move closer. He let a smile grow on his face as he took another drink from the bottle. With his momentary shift the small Awoken woman let out a groan of displeasure before she wrapped an arm around his torso and a leg over his. He chuckled at what he had forgotten. Jo gets touchy and affectionate when she was drunk. This would cut their late night short.

With a sigh Raz set to work at separating himself from the clingy Awoken. After a few minutes of trying he did manage it and she had curled up into a small ball on the grass. Making sure she was mostly asleep, Raz started cleaning up the bottles and disposing of the garbage that had accumulated. The Frames had enough work as it is with the passed out Guardians and local workers. He could clean up their own mess.

With the trash and extra bottles taken care of he returned to see Jo was still laying there and lightly snoring. This was good, it would make getting her up to the room that much easier. Still opting for silence Raz scooped Jo into his arms and made his way to the Titan tower. Neither of them needed to wake up early for any reason that he could recall, and with how much she had been drinking she wouldn't want to.

.

Creatures of Darkness were odd, strange was too much, but odd fit them just right. They were all opposed to the Traveler and everything it stood for in the name of the 'Light'. But it seemed that the terms for Light and Darkness weren't as clean cut as many seemed to think. Many believed that the Hive were evil, true beings of the Darkness. Those people were right, they hungered for the Light and would snuff out any resistance that was in their way. The Vex worshipped the Darkness in their own way, and some Warlocks and Cryptarchs theorized that they held themselves in a higher echelon of Darkness. Thus spawning their animosity with the other beings of the Dark. The Cabal were not beings of Darkness, but were still in some ways evil.

That left the Eliksni, the Fallen, as they too in some aspects followed the Darkness. Their desire for the Traveler had led them down darker paths than some would have allowed in the past. But in these times, it didn't really matter, they would live with their mistakes. Learn from them even. Some creatures didn't learn however, and the main suspects were those of Darkness. The Hive specifically at this time.

Avarek silently stalked through the tunnels that had been carved into the Earth's moon by the Hive. A bounty had been placed on a Knight who resided in this section of the Hellmouth and the one making the request had specifically petitioned for him. At least his name was gaining some renown, he snorted in his helmet at the thought.

The sudden sound in the silence had him stop stock still until he realized that it was of his own making. He was getting jumpy here in the tunnels. But who could blame him? The Hive were deadly and the way they moved sometimes did not seem natural. A sudden shift caught his attention and he swung his spear without a second thought. The Arc energy in it crackling to life at the tip and illuminating the tunnel slightly as it plunged into the chest of an Acolyte. Most likely investigating the noise he had made.

There went the element of surprise. For the most part at least.

With a renewed vigor Avarek moved deeper into the tunnels before meeting his next obstacle, one he had been running into a lot down here. Collapsed tunnels. This was most likely why he hadn't run into too many patrols of the Hive. With all the tunnels that had apparently collapsed recently they weren't able to move about with the same speed they normally did. This played in favor and against him in the same way since he couldn't move through the same tunnels.

A low growl creeped out of his throat as he turned to find another way deeper into the network of tunnels. He had no idea where this bounty was, a Knight named Thakji. The specifics of the bounty weren't that great either, he knew next to nothing about this Knight. Only that the last time it was seen it was heavily injured, missing an eye and it was moving with a limp. So when he did find it, it couldn't move fast, if he could ever find the thing.

In his internal monologue he almost missed a heavy door in a small tunnel that suddenly branched off to the side. Avarek paused as he looked down the way he came and where he was intending to go before this. How had he missed this door before? More importantly, what could the Hive be hiding behind here and would his target be behind said door?

Indolence was definitely not something he was big on and he closed in on the door hastily. He paused as he spotted the runes on several chains and cursed. What could he do now? This door was sealed pretty well, even by Hive standards. He really wanted to see the other side now and settle his curiosity. With his mind made up he set his spear down against the wall and quickly went to work on the first of the runes. He knew the basics of decrypting most locks, that included these Hive made ones, thanks to his father. He also made sure to keep an ear open for any sounds that could give away a sneak attack from any of the Hive warriors.

His dedication to his past teachings was rewarded when the first rune cracked and crumbled into ash. Leaving the chains to follow suit and allowing him to proceed to the next rune. Avarek followed this same procedure for the next three runes, each sound he heard sending him into a paralyzed stall as he waited for any other sounds to follow. Oddly enough he was never set upon by the Hive. Maybe the cave ins were more wide spread than he initially estimated, leaving him essentially isolated from the Hive.

As the final chain crumbled before him, he gave a triumphant huff when he pushed open the doors. His huff was stifled when he attempted to keep his stomach from leaving his mouth. The stench was too great for the scrubbers on his helmet and the sight before him in the dim lights was appalling, to say the least. Bodies, twisted and broken lay in piles in the massive room before him. In reality, it was one large pile, with just small gaps in the corpses that it comprised of.

Swallowing hard, Avarek let his eyes roam the room studiously. He had seen many things in his bounty hunting life. But the atrocities before him now? He wasn't even that sick to try and fuse body parts of Hive onto another species. As he slowly entered the room he noticed that there was a consistency to the bodies here. They were all Guardians, or were Guardians. Many had mutated beyond normal recognition and the only telling traits were the armor pieces that still adorned their bodies. What they had been subjected to was beyond him, and the reason why was suddenly not so appealing anymore. He could do without learning all the secrets of this place.

A sudden shift caught his attention and he raised his weapon in anticipation, his eyes snapping towards the motion. That was when he saw it, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded the monster before him. A Knight, easily twice his size, and wielding a massive blade that was stained with blood from many races. He knew the Knight was analyzing him, deciding if it was going to be easy pickings or not. The two remaining eyes glowed balefully in the dim atmosphere, and they were met with equal hate and malice from the Eliksni's four.

A rumbling laugh escaped the chest of the Knight as it stood, a slight stoop on one side signaled that this was indeed his target. The Knight Thakji, and he would enjoy ending this monster. Even if it wasn't the master of this chamber and just it's guardian, it still knew about what had occurred here. Most of all though, this thing was his target, and he was going to get paid to kill it.

Without another thought he charged the monstrosity, his spear crackling to life once more in the dim light of the chamber. Much to Avarek's chagrin the behemoth easily blocked the downward strike with it's wicked blade. Thakji's deceptive speed held true as it lashed out with a foot and caught the Eliksni in the torso. Knocking the air out of his lungs and the warrior leaped back, his mind reeling as his nerves tried to recover from the sudden strike.

Returning to a full stance, Avarek got low and gripped the spear loosely. Brute force unfortunately would not win him this battle, no, he needed to be more cunning and wily than the Hive. He was also pretty sure his armor was bent where the Knight had slammed it's foot into him. A problem for a different day, for now he had to focus on his prey.

Circling the Knight carefully, Avarek tried to keep himself from tripping over the mounds of bodies, armor and weapons. It was here he realized that there were fellow Eliksni, Cabal and even the elusive Vex amongst the corpses. The numbers were few compared to the mountain of Guardians. He guessed they didn't have much use for the other species in their horror chambers here.

An almost feral growl escaped his throat. This thing must die! His honor now demanded it, he would avenge his fallen brothers and sisters. His growl turned into a battle roar. This incited the Knight to charge and try to bisect the smaller opponent, the sword's swing slammed hard into a body with a dull thunk and the sound of cracking armor plates and bones.

Avarek followed up the missed strike with his spear piercing the off-hand arm of the Hive warrior. Thakji roared in pain and swatted his opponent away, the Eliksni bounced off a pile of bodies before nimbly rolling back to his hands and feet. He needed a new weapon he noted as Thakji dislodged the Arc emitting weapon and tossing it aside lazily. His hand found purchase on a weapon and without hesitation he yanked it out of the pile and threw it towards the Knight.

He was lucky it was a Hunter's throwing knife.

The blade flew true and sank into the weaker flesh by the Knight's groin. Another holler of pain and the knife was removed and tossed away into another pile. This distraction was all that was needed as Aravek slammed his shoulder into the lower body of his opponent. The Knight was stunned momentarily before it started to tip back, and proceeded to fall and crash into a large pile of corpses. It cushioned his fall, but it wasn't a far enough fall to allow him to dislodge the Fallen currently grappling with him.

With some grunting and lots of effort, Thakji got the Fallen dismounted and tossed to the side. Gripping the massive blade again and using it to prop himself up. The Knight was not prepared for the Fallen to have recovered so quickly, or for it to be armed with the damned knife again. This time it was not thrown but plunged into the shoulder area. A growl of pain was heard, and then he felt it. The sharp twist and the sudden pressure in one direction.

The vile little creature was trying to remove the armored plate on his chest!

With a fierceness that surprised both of them he dropped his blade and with a mighty roar he grabbed the Fallen and pried him off and threw him across the room. His reprieve didn't last long as he looked at the slightly exposed chest and groaned. An Arc grenade had been planted in the barely large enough gap created in his armor. Calling upon the darkness he formed a tangible wall between him and the Fallen. His wall of Darkness would regenerate him just enough where he would survive, or so he hoped.

The grenade exploded in a dazzling burst of blue. Aravek could not see what had befallen the Knight, for the wall still stood. He wouldn't get his hopes up yet. Being too optimistic was a bad thing. The edges of the Darkness started to crack and crumble, it all soon started to turn to ash before him. When enough had fallen away to nothing his eyes narrowed.

Thakji was gone.

The hunt continued.

Post A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope I keep people entertained with this. Also, for anyone with the new DLC I am looking for a Raid Team. I already have a slot reserved for my buddy Reilly who owns Entity. So it would be a Raid with Entity and Raz at least, Starr may join us as well. So if you want in, drop me a message and my Gamertag on Live is the same as my name here. Razzack. Keep on keepin' on Guardians!