When you lived in a cell deep underground it was really hard to tell time. She could really only assume days had passed after the incident with her captor but for all she knew it was only a day or maybe hours. Hell if she wasn't constantly concerned for her wellbeing she'd probably be the pinnacle of bored by now. Nix laid flat on her 'bed' of shabby furs that had been provided to her and stared at the ceiling vent with a thousand yard stare. Lost in her own brain as she mentally reassessed her situation for the thousandth time. The cement of her room was cold and damp in some areas and in other dry and warm, across from her bed closer to the door was a canister of water and a slab with food on it. She could only guess they didn't know what humans ate, that or they wanted to give her food poisoning seeing as they provided raw bloody meat. Fortunately there were also edible berries so she didn't starve.

Looking over at the wall to her right she stared mindlessly at it. She suspected there was something special about it, what with it being unique and all but wasn't sure exactly what, it wasn't a one way mirror, there was no mirror side and she couldn't see into her cell from the other side.

Sighing she sat up and stretched her arms, god she was bored. She hadn't seen the Fallen Captain all day, was it a day? What she wouldn't do for a clock right about now. This thought once again brought her to her surroundings and once again she was thankful they hadn't taken her bio suit or she'd certainly be very sick right now. These conditions wouldn't even be given to death row convicts in in her time. In my time... She mentally scoffed. This WAS her time she had to remind herself. Sure she had been dead for...well she couldn't remember what her Ghost had said but this was her time. It had just been split. Maybe for the better.

Haste-4 had told her about what had transpired after the collapse and before the rise of the Iron Lords and The Last City. It had been a messy time for humanity, given the gift of the traveller only to spend years using it to fulfill a lust for power and greed. Her ghost had been around then too and told her of the horrors of humanity. They had both disgusted her and also not surprised her. She had grown up seeing the ugly side of human's, her father had been in law enforcement and she'd witnessed tales of cruelty from her father as he poured his heart and sadness out to her mother at night when they thought she was asleep and couldn't hear. She hadn't a clue how he kept his faith in humanity during her 'angst' teenage years but understood a bit now that she was a Guardian. It must've broken their hearts when they heard I died...

Did they? She was found in the same car she died in. Nobody was buried, she was one of many that died on that day and was never recovered, which made it even sadder. I'm sure there was news reports of it and knowing them they definitely saw it. They probably held out hope I escaped on the ship for years even with no contact from me.

She shook her head and sighed for what must've been the hundredth time that day. No, I don't need more negative thoughts. If I start now gods know I'll never stop! She stood up and looked around her room again, bouncing on the balls of her feet to distract her from her thought process. A loud bang and an "owww.." snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up. The air vent?

Peering up into it her held her breath as a small light began to come forth and her heart beat faster. No...It couldn't be..! With another clang sure enough her ghost came into view.

[You're alive! Thank goodness I was worried I'd be trying to find my way through here forever! Do you know how many tunnels there are?!]

Her hands went straight to her mouth to stifle the gasp that came, eyes wide she didn't dare blink lest this be a trick of the mind. She was speechless right then and there. Her Ghost was alive! Somebody else survived the tunnel collapse!

"Ghost! You're okay!" she finally managed "How-?"

[Pure good fortune.] It answered before she could ask. [I got stuck in-between some rock but managed to get free and found this Fallen Hideout. Before you as no it wasn't easy to find you. I managed to get in the air vents but lost track of you and it took until now to find out where you were.]

She nodded, just happy to see a familiar face, even if it was through the grate of an air vent. She then felt a stone drop in her gut as she tried to form her next question, afraid of the answer. "Did...Did Haste..."

Ghost didn't respond right away but understood the question [...I don't know. I didn't detect his body in the rubble so there is a chance he escaped.] It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't a whole truth either. Yes it hadn't detected their corpses but it also hadn't reached far into the rubble to find them.

Nix nodded her head understanding. There was hope, but it was a dangerous hope to hold. "So…Where am I?"

[You're in a large underground base under command of House of Kings. And I do mean large, as in Hive underground base large. I can't believe this was under the cosmodrome this whole time and we never knew it.] Ghost began, clearly both impressed and concerned. [Nix there are tunnels here reaching out for miles connect one another. I suspect this is only one of who knows how many. What's worse is you're at the bottom of the spire, escaping will be near impossible as is.]

Bad news, always bad news. If what Ghost was saying was true she wasn't in hot water. She was in a lightless pit with a sealed top. "Please tell me you have good news..." she groaned feeling her gut twisting now.

[Well, good news is I don't think they want you dead.] What?

"What?"

[Well...our understanding of Fallen language is archaic at best, the Reef doesn't like to share its understanding of it in the least. However from what I picked up they don't want you dead. Or rather one of the Captain's doesn't want you killed anyways. I'm not sure why though.] It admitted.

That explained a lot actually and put her mind at ease. Her captor didn't want her dead. So it was likely he wanted something from her, unless he was keeping her for other reasons-

"I...I think I'm a pet..." she said not believing the words coming from her mouth.

[..Yeah I doubt it.]

"...I think your right. Still if they want information on the tower I'm screwed. We're screwed." she admitted.

[I know which is why we need to get you out. Now open this grate.]

She nodded and began reaching for the grate then stopped, wheels turning in her head "No."

[What?]

"I can't risk you dying on me. Listen," she began "I want you to stay hidden and look around. Find my gear and do some recon for me. I don't think they know you're here. So long as you stay safe even if they do kill me I can come back. However if you're dead its game over." She said adamantly, "If these assholes think they can get information from me like they probably do then they can think again. Get all the info on this base you can so when the time comes, and we escape, we'll have more info on their Fallen asses then they do on us."

Ghost didn't reply at first, it didn't want to leave her and what she was suggesting was bold and risky. It really wanted nothing more than to escape now but it knew there was no arguing. As humans put it 'there was a fire burning in her eyes'. So reluctantly it agreed. [Fine. But so you know I don't like this one bit.]

Nix just grinned "Atta' boy...girl... you get my point."

With a roll of its eye and a parting [You be careful.] They parted ways again leaving Nix in her stifling silence.

A/N: Okay quick request of readers. Next chapter I need filler characters to hold some side roles so send me a description and personality of your OC characters and I'll pick some to fulfill the role. It's not major but I need some to fill in some spots.