They walked towards the vanguard in silence, mulling over what they had found. The lack of a third fireteam member was drawing some odd looks from civilians, although no-one stopped them to ask about it. Matt still wore the torn clock he had when he'd crashed on the moon, blood staining part of it, the end frayed and torn. He fiddled with his knife, spinning the blade around his finger before throwing it in the air, watching it throughout its arc, holding out a finger to let the handle fall on. Aria watched the blade as it rose and fell as well, admiring the way the light reflected off the blade. Matt snatched the blade out of the air, handle in his palm, sheathing it as they walked down towards the vanguard.

A warlock cannoned around the corner, clattering into Matt, who fell over backwards, the warlock tumbling over and landing next to him, "Sorry, sorry." She scrambled back to her feet, brushing off her robe before offering a hand to Matt, who accepted it.

She hauled him up onto his feet, "I was in a rush, are you OK?" she asked, her purple eyes lensing outwards.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks." Matt replied, grinning, "I should've moved outta the way, must be getting slow."

The warlock smiled, "Well, glad I didn't do any real damage." She laughed, "At least I didn't send a civilian flying, that would've been bad. Anyway, gotta dash, places to be." She waved, turning and sprinting off, taking the stairs 5 at a time.

Matt pulled the sides of his cloak hood, snapping them back to where he liked them, smiling at Aria, "Well, that was unexpected." He said happily, "Now," his tone changed, "Shall we go and tell the vanguard we found some recently dead."

Aria sighed, "I suppose we should." She replied.

-X-

/ECHO_SENT

/MESSAGE BEGINS

D.O.\L,

Someone found them.

/MESSAGE ENDS

-X-

Matt's shoulders sagged, "Thanks for talking for that." He said.

"It was rough for you, I didn't see any reason you should have to recount it when I was there as well." Aria replied, "Anyway, I remember things in more detail than you, so it makes sense for me to report to the vanguard." She grinned, "Organics and their silly storage systems."

Matt shoved her away, "Exo, with their irrational lack of morals." He shot back, feeling better about bothering to come out and do something, realising that he'd been stewing in his own pit of guilt.

Aria stopped walking by Shaxx, "Want to go a few rounds, get you back into the swing of things?" she asked, "Maybe this time I'll do better than you."

He shrugged, "I suppose I should, or I'll be out of practice for the next crisis."

Aria grinned, her eyes lighting up, "Thousand glimmer on the first match, best out of us to takes it?"

Matt nodded, "Hope you've got a grand lying around." He grinned, spinning his hand cannon around his finger.

-X-

The two of them slid behind the rusting truck, Matt peaking up, dropping to the ground as shot whistled through the hole where the side window would have been. He looked at the warlock, a guardian Shaxx had put them with for the skirmish, "All three of them are there, could you get a 'nade over?" he asked.

She peeked around the front of the truck, looking across at the enemy team, void coiling in her palm, "I think so." She said, "Yeah, yeah I can." She sounded more confident the second time.

She backed up, giving herself room to throw, "Ready?" she asked.

Matt held his handcannon up, nodding.

She threw the grenade, the shooting over their heads stopped. They sprung over the truck, the warlock landing on it to start shooting, Matt firing while in the air. He saw a hunter drop, staggering backwards as more bullets slammed into his chest. One of the Titans stood their ground as Aria swooped in, sliding around the corner, her shotgun slamming into her shoulder. The titan staggered, void lashing into holes in his armour. He withered in pain, dissolving into nothing.

Matt snapped off a shot at the final member of the enemy team, clipping their shoulder, sending them staggering. He ran forwards, lunging around the corner, a knife spiralling towards the titan. It bounced off the armour, a shot pummelling Matt's shields. He flinched as he skidded on his side, grabbing onto a pillar, hauling himself upright as a second shot shattered his shield, the round stabbing into his side. He looked down, hissing in pain as he pulled the needle-like projectile out of his side. His side continued to burn after he'd pulled the round out, the titan's gun firing, whispered instead of booming.

Matt flicked a grenade off the wall, watching it bounce past the pillar. It detonated as he felt a hard impact on the side of his helmet. Something snapped, then he saw through Nova's optic.

"Fuck." He yelled, "Bastards got something that burns, look out for that."

Aria slid into the room, her shotgun booming in the enclosed space, the titan backpedalling, throwing up a void shield as he did so. Aria lunged forwards, letting arc energy surge through her, her punch connecting, the shockwave throwing the titan backwards.

Matt felt light running through his link to Nova, the warlock crouched next to his ghost, "You alright?" she asked, her rifle held tightly.

"Just about." Matt nodded, "Thanks."

The warlock yelled in pain as shots cannoned into her side, staggering into Matt. He caught her, gently setting her against the wall as he drew his handcannon, firing back out of the door at a hunter rushed forwards, catching their head multiple times. The hunter dropped again, skidding forwards on their back as their ghost materialised. Matt strode forwards towards the door, his body glowing gold as he stepped out of the room, two shots ringing out as Shaxx announced the match over.

The warlock staggered to her feet, rubbing her shoulder, her helmet disappearing in a flash of light. She opened her mouth to speak.

-X-

Aleeza let go of her brothers' hand, hoping beyond hope for a twitch of life in it. The irregular clicks of Lex had stopped about five minutes ago. People had come and gone around her, some guardians she recognised, some she didn't. Carina had made a point of staying with her, just sitting next to her, simply existing had been enough for the warlock. Leaving to find Matt, arriving at the moon again to find a war zone had surged the hope that maybe Akiva would pull through, but even as she sat in her own little reality, living within the confines of her mind, seemingly oblivious to everything around her, she heard the beeps slowing.

Not a noticeable amount over the course of a day or a week, but they were slowing. Slowly, steadily decreasing in regularity, each one signalling a further few minutes of his existence. Each lengthening gap a second closer to his death.

Gentle hands pulled her towards someone, an arm over her shoulder. The soft hum of a reactor was all she needed to know, letting the titan pull her into the hug. Carina let her rest her head on her shoulder, tears running freely down the warlocks' cheeks, her eyes wet, glistening with tears yet to come.

Aleeza chocked back sobs, Carina murmuring to her, meaningless words than none the less comforted her.

-X-

Matt spun around, charging towards the sound of the gunshot. Faint sounds, like wind, could be heard, two shots, followed quickly by two more. He spun around the corner, his feet digging into the ground, leaving gouges in the dirt on the ground as he turned. Aria and the warlock followed as fast as they could, the hunter running outpacing them a few times over.

Matt skidded to a halt, two ghosts lying shattered on the ground, needles embedded deep in their shells. He looked up, a titan lying against the wall, red blood seeping out of her cracked helmet, a black needle piercing her cheekbone. Matt suddenly felt cold, a chill shooting up his spine as he looked at the hunter. The hunter's armour had shattered, the needle protruding from his chest. His skin was black with mould, the needle still moving as he took shuddering breaths. Matt slumped onto his knees next to the dying guardian, gently picking up the others hand, pulling his helmet off.

The other coughed, blood dripping out of their mouth and nose, "I couldn't," another cough, more blood coming up, "He was too fast" He choked out, his eyes losing their light, his chest collapsing in on itself.

Matt sat there, feeling suddenly ill. Aria placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to his feet. She wasn't wearing her helmet, her face distraught. Matt looked around, the area they were in open to the sky, the sun setting blood red to the west. He moved around Aria, pulling his helmet off, letting it fall from his hands onto the dirt.

The warlock was looking away, her shoulders shaking, she was crouched down, her ghost floating around her, looking worried.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Matt said, the warlock turning around, "You didn't need to see this." He paused for a second, "I've not seen you around the tower, you new?" he asked eventually.

The ghost nodded, "Yes. I found my guardian three months and two weeks ago."

Matt crouched down next to her, "Three months. That's too soon to see that." He shook his head, "Come on kid, let's get you back to the tower." He gently pulled the warlock to her feet and guided her towards the ship he was borrowing from Carina. Holliday was insistent that she wasn't giving him a new ship until he'd proven that he wasn't going to get it destroyed within a week, and he was forced to borrow from other guardians. The ship settled down on its landing legs, a ramp opening under the nose. Matt guided the warlock up it, sitting her down in the co-pilots seat. He eased the ship into the air, flying sedately towards the tower, setting the autopilot up before spinning the chair around to face the warlock.

She was young, had probably died in her mid-twenties, maybe early thirties, her eyes were red from crying, "If you want to, you can talk about it." He said, "I've seen things like that before."

"How? How do you kill a guardian, we can't die." She said, "At least, I thought we couldn't."

Redjack ships screamed past, jets of ionisation coiling in their wakes.

"The ghosts are the ones who revive us. Without them, we have only one life." Matt looked at Nova, who was flitting around the ship, checking everything was safe, "To kill a guardian, you need to kill the ghost." He looked away, blinking away tears, "Ghosts are too easy to kill. A bullet, fire, darkness. Any of them will prevent revival, either by forcing the ghost to utilise its light to protect itself, in the case of darkness, or by destroying the ghost."

The warlock looked up, her eyes still wet with tears, "But why? What was make someone want to kill another guardian?"

Matt shrugged, "I wish I knew. If I did, I would have intervened."

The warlock stood up, dragging the co-pilots chair along the track to sit closer to him, "I… I just thought…" she paused, swallowing hard, "The needles, did you recognise them?" She spoke fast, her voice urgent.

Matt nodded, "I'd been shot with them, the titan." He stopped, realising what it meant, "The Titan." He turned around, the pitch of the engines rising, ionisation building along the leading edge of the wing, "Holliday, I need you to do something." He said over the radio.

"Ah, my least favourite pilot." Holiday drawled, "What do you want?"

"I need you to talk to Shaxx, about the guardians who were killed in my last crucible match." His voice had an urgency to it.

"Shaxx has already ordered the crucible closed, and we are looking for a Dredgen Yor inbound to the hanger. If we see him, we're blowing him out of the air." Holiday growled, "Sick bastard, killing fellow guardians."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank the traveller Shaxx has the foresight to circulate the information." He cut the connection, turning back to the warlock, "The tower knows."

She relaxed slightly, "Thanks for giving me a hand back there." She said, holding out a hand to shake, "I'm Zoe." She smiled, although Matt could see that it was forced.

He shook her hand, "Matt." He replied, smiling back at the warlock, "You fought amazingly well for someone who's only been around for three months."

Aria laughed over the ship to ship comms, "She knows what she's doing, I'll give her that."

Matt shook his head, "That's Aria, my fireteammate, sorry about her, she's a bit eccentric at times."

Zoe's smile brightened, "Well, I'm used to eccentricity, the two others in my fireteam could define the word."

Matt looked slightly shocked, "They are assigning fireteams within three months? Damn, things must be getting desperate if they want you out and about that fast." He said, "Where are they, I'd expect them to have gone into the crucible with you."

Zoe shrugged, "They don't like the idea of shooting friendlies." She explained, "They think it's wrong, which is odd, Ikora said that it was normally warlock who had the most qualms about shooting other guardians. I guess I'm one of the exceptions to the trend."

Matt laughed, "Ikora hates that stereotype."
"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, curiosity shining in her eyes.
"Ikora used…" He stopped as Nova butted him in the shoulder, shaking her shell from side to side. Matt smiled sheepishly, "You'll have to talk to Ikora about it, I like all my limbs where they are."

Zoe looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "But you're a hunter, won't Cayde do anything to help?"

Matt laughed, "You think Cayde would help, he'd be betting on Ikora." Nova let out an involuntary laugh, settling down on the pilot's chair, near Matts' shoulder.

"Where do you want to land?" He asked, "Anywhere within city limits."

Zoe looked at her own ghost, who had been quiet so far, "Where's Jace today?"

The ghost spun around, a deep green optic nestled in the centre of the ghosts deep green shell, "Jace is at tower two today." His voice was deep, baritone. He made a beeline for the navigation system, tagging the tower on the ships navigation system. Nova let out an annoyed huff, "I was just doing that." She said, sounding slightly pissed off.

"I…," Zoe's ghost stuttered for a moment, "Sorry." He said, looking down at the deck as he floated back over to Zoe.

Matt smiled slightly as he felt a wash of mixed guilt and satisfaction ripple through his link to Nova.

-X-

They landed gently, the ramp dropping with a hiss of pneumatics. Zoe ran down the ramp, running into a hug with a titan, who was standing just outside the safe zone around the landing area, "Hey Zo." He said softly, "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, that's Matt, he was in the match with me." Zoe said, "He's really good at shooting."

Matt shrugged, "I try my best." He replied, "You were really good too."

Jace nodded, "You okay Zo, you don't normally act like this."

"WellnobutIdon'treallywanttotalkaboutitbecauseIsawaguardiandie." She said, becoming increasingly choked up. Jace pulled her into a closer hug, looking at Matt, "What happened?"

"A titan, his name is currently unknown, killed the guardians that he was fighting with in the crucible, after losing the match to Me, Zoe and Aria, the other member of my fireteam." Matt said flatly, "I have to go, I need to talk to the vanguard, sorry you had to see that Zoe." He patted the warlock on her shoulder before walking towards Carina's ship, taking off and turning around, flying back towards the tower.

-X-

Aria relaxed slightly as the low boom of clamps securing her ship to the transport platform rung through the hull. She disembarked, setting off towards the stairs up. She saw a group of redjack frames huddled together, slowly disbanding into groups of 6. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on as she removed her helmet, feeling it's weight disappear from her hands as Jenny stored in in the vault.

All units have orders, dispatch into city to protect civilians A slightly normal sounding voice, one she recognised as Arcite, the newly appointed crucible quartermaster, a role many guardians speculated was so Shaxx had more time to commentate on matches.

Orders received, units moving out A harsh synthetic tone was clearly a redjack, the units turned and moved past Aria in an orderly fashion. She watched them go, shock evident on her face as something sunk back into the depths of her mind, "Anything I can help you with, guardian?"

"What, um, no, thank you Arcite." Aria turned away, walking quickly over to the stairs down to the lower layers of the tower, "What the hell was that Jenny?"

The ghost spun around, "What was what?"

"I heard what the Redjacks were saying." She shook her head, "That or I'm going crazy."

"I… what?" Jenny sounded evenly pissed off and surprised, "What is going on?"

"I don't know Jenny, but something gave me access to the Redjack network," Aria said as she opened the door to her apartment. She checked the time, "Hang on," She shrugged her armour off, "Go talk to Shaxx about it or something, I need a rest."

The ghost huffed, "Where do you think I was going. Goodnight."

Aria murmured something that sounded like goodnight, before rolling over and powering down.

Hey look, an update. I'm not quite dead, just haven't been writing recently, because I haven't been in the right mood, sorry.
I don't know how fast I'll be able keep updates coming, but hopefully it'll be a bit faster than 6 months at a time.
Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time.