A/N - I'm back! And hopefully I'll stick around longer. I'm sorry for the wait and that this chapter's quality might be a little lacking. I'll try to pick up the pace a little.

Anyway, Happy Reading!

King of the Sky

Chapter XV

Exiles on a Blue Moon

Vrrithix stared vacantly out at the barren landscape of the moon. The Fallen Dreg absentmindedly scratching at the docking caps on his recently severed lower arms. His body ached from malnutrition and lack of the precious ether they needed to live and grow.

The Dreg heard his fellow house members bickering over something behind him and gave a sigh as he watched for any hive that might have crawled up from the depths.

This truly was a terrible place he found himself in. Starving and surrounded by criminals, pirates, and death worshipping monsters.

'What was the Human term…ahh yes, hell' Vrrithix idly thought as he concluded that if this death trap of a moon wasn't hell, then it was as close as anyone could get.

BOOM!

Vrrithix whirled around to the inside of their dilapidated building, only to see one of his comrades, who was trying to repair a Shank, hand only succeeded in causing it to exploded, and was now having his neck rung out by their "leader" who was only a small Vandal, who was so malnourished that his lower arms may very well dock themselves any day now, leaving him a lowly Dreg like the rest of them.

Vrrithix gave a guttural sound of disgust in the back of his dry throat, as he shook his head and resumed his watch. At least they weren't humming that irritating tune that had blasted through on their communicators a few hours ago anymore.

Still, Vrrithix cursed the sigil that was carved into his old and defunct armor and the green paint that adorned it. 'A house of exiles indeed' he thought bitterly. In his mind this was no house at all though. They had no Kell to lead them. No Archon to preach to them. No Prime Servitor to provide them with ether.

It was a far cry from Vrrithix's time as a Vandal in the House of Devils. Where he quickly found his ideas were not welcome.

The Dreg's four glowing eyes seemed to go a little dimmer as the bickering continued behind him and he felt despair grip him.

Before he could fall any deeper though, he heard something echoing out of the crags and trenches of the moon.

Fear gripped Vrrithix as he mistook the sound as the evil chanting of Hive magic below the surface and he quickly drew his pistol and dagger, which caught the attention of the others.

"What is it Vrrithix? Hive?" the Vandal demanded as Vrrithix tilted his head to better hear. Faint melodic tunes reached his ears and dread filled him anew, as he realized that this wasn't the chanting of Hive.

"No…not Hive…" he said as the noise became clearer and voices could be heard in one of the Human's languages.

"…when I looked the moon had turned to gold" more music echoed out in an easy and slow tone and became clear as a figure appeared, rounding a corner in the trench ahead and coming closer.

"Blue Moon! Now I'm no longer alone…without a dream in my heart…without a love of my own…" the music reached it's loudest as the Human wearing a burning cape of mismatched materials, came strolling up to and past the Exiles' hideout. His Ghost hovering over his shoulder and blasting the music in every direction like a megaphone.

There was no doubt about it. A Guardian had stumbled upon them. For what else could it be, dressed as it was and blasting music in the most hostile place imaginable. Only a Guardian would have so little concern for their own safety while in a haunted place like this.

Vrrithix couldn't believe his rotten luck. The House of Exiles had set up on the moon to avoid the Guardians and rival Houses, so what was one doing here.

His feelings were apparently reflected, in a twisted way, in his comrades, who all gripped their weapons tightly as hate burned in their hearts and eyes.

"Little thief!" the Vandal spat as his eyes bore down on the shorter Human, who was just strolling along without a care in the world.

Vrrithix glanced over at their leader as he thought on that term. Many of his kin shared that mindset. Deluding themselves with the self made lie that the Humans had "stolen" their Great Machine and it's Light.

Vrrithix was not of this mindset, no matter how much he wished he was. He was not dumb. He had listed and learned from their history more them most other Fallen and certainly more then anyone else in The House of Devils. And he could not deny the truth.

The Great Machine hadn't been stolen from them. It had ABANDONED them, and chosen the Humans to sacrifice itself for.

But in spite of knowing this truth, Vrrithix held his tongue while the others ranted and raved. Demanding vengeance for the supposed theft of their birthright.

Because for a smart as Vrrithix had been in discovering this truth, he had not been smart enough to keep it to himself and had even been dumb enough as to suggest giving up their crusade. Possibly even forming an alliance with the Humans that their god had blessed.

Vrrithix knew better now.

His missing arms and frail body were a constant reminder of how foolish he was, and the memories of Guardians slaughtering entire Houses for their own retribution, had tainted his view of them.

The Vandal gave a roar as he commanded his subordinates to prepare to ambush the Guardian.

Vrrithix shook his head in despair as the few Shanks they had were activated. The flat, oval shaped drones humming to life as they began hovering off the ground.

Were those he was forced to call allies really so stupid and blinked by anger to not realize what they were doing. Sure they might be able to kill the Guardian if they had a mountain of ammo and an army. But they were only a few Dregs and a weak Vandal with four barely functioning Shanks.

And even if, by some miracle, they did kill the Guardian, it would not stay dead…

Vrrithix sighed as he glanced down at his weapon then up at the Guardian who was still walking at a leisurely pace.

'I'm already dying…why drag it out any longer…' Vrrithix thought with despair and, oddly, acceptance. "At least I will die with honor" he muttered to himself as he clung to what little pride he had left and set out to fight the Guardian.

Meanwhile, the Guardian finally came to a stop as he exited to little ravine, only to see more open space between him and the main base in the distance.

The Hunter and his Ghost both gave exasperated sighs as they slouched forwards and the music stopped.

"I am so tired of walking" Sora moaned as his arms dangled and he was plagued with memories of wandering aimlessly in the Final World. The one set of memories he would rather do without.

"We're getting a Sparrow as soon as we get to the city" Chirithy said in agreement as he tried to ignore his internal GPS, telling him exactly how much farther they had to travel.

Sometimes it could be a real pain, being a living computer.

Chirithy was broken from his thoughts though, by some of the surrounding rock formations crumbling and braking away. His shell twitched and he froze up as his sensors picked up on a chittering sound, fallowed by more shuffling and he glanced up and around him.

Chirithy may have been childish, naïve and free spirit, but he still had to survive for three hundred years in literal post apocalyptic war zones. So his instincts were sharpened to recognize things like the sound of an ambush.

The Ghost quickly flashed out of existence before he could be targeted, even if normal weapons couldn't hurt him, which caught Sora by surprise.

"Chirithy, what's wrong?" He asked as he felt his Ghost's anxiety.

"We got company" Chirithy warned with a serious tone.

Sora arched an eyebrow before he noticed the tumbling and shifting of rocks and looked over his shoulder and up at the cliff to his left. He then heard faint words in a language he didn't recognize.

Sora turned around and scanned the sides of the ravine "hello!? Is anyone there!?" he called out and everything went quiet, aside from Sora's voice, echoing out.

Chirithy very nearly chewed Sora out for calling out to their ambushers, but he also knew that Sora wasn't a complete idiot and was more then powerful enough to take care of them both, so he kept quiet.

Sora hummed as he looked back and forth between the two sides of the ravine and tapped his foot, waiting for his echo to peter out.

The silence stretched on for a long moment before Sora shrugged and stared to turn around.

ZAP!

What appeared to be a beam of electricity, suddenly lanced out at Sora's head. The Hunter just smirked though, as he held his hand up and summoned Kingdom Key behind his head. Blocking the shot.

Sora turned his head to look at where the shot had come from "gotcha" he muttered as several Fallen jumped up from behind the rocks and aimed their weapons at him.

Sora was initially confused though, as they shot relatively slow moving balls of Ark energy at him. At least they were slower then most weapons he knew of at the moment.

Sora moved to just sidestep the shots, but quickly noticed that they were tracking him and had to block before rolling away.

"Huh, neat trick" he said with a smirk, before letting the blue energy envelope him and bouncing off the walls like pinball. Dodging the shots fired at him and makings his way up to the closet Fallen.

The Dreg's eyes widened in shock at the impossibly fast movement as Sora brought his Keyblade around and bashed him in the head. Sending the Fallen sprawling on the ground and out of commission.

"One down…a dozen to go" Sora said as he turned to face the rest and spun his Keyblade in his hand. He quickly glanced down at it though, while the Fallen were still too shocked to move.

He then grinned before switching to Reefborn Key "let's see what this baby can do" he said as he spun the Key again and deflected a few shot from the recovering Fallen and dashed forwards with a burst a speed, sending up a cloud of moon dust.

The Fallen Vandal roared but was quickly cut off as Sora blitzed passed the others and strait to him and gave him the same treatment he did to the first. What fallowed next shouldn't even be worth noting, as Sora just dashed from Dreg to Dreg. Taking them out with one blow.

It was honestly a little sad, how easily they went down and Sora felt a little guilty. He couldn't even stock up enough power for a Form-Change. It was almost like beating up children.

Sora attention was soon caught though, by rounds impacting his shields and making him role to the side. He then looked up to see the four Shanks hovering towards him while shooting.

Sora grinned as he did another dodge roll and drew his Sunshot. Sora knelt and took aim. The next thing the Fallen knew, Solar rounds were melting the chassis of the drones and they all exploded.

Only three Dregs remained and they stared in shock at the Guardian before anger to hold again and they roared before firing at him.

Sora just jumped into the air above them though, as white and purple energy built in his blade.

"It's over!" He yelled as he landed in the middle of the three and drove the blade into the ground, sending out a wave of white and purple energy, nocking the Fallen to the ground.

And then, all fell quiet…

Vrrithix let out a guttural groan as he came back to consciousness. His head ached something awful but any thoughts of discomfort were washed away as the realization hit him.

'I'm alive' he thought with surprise.

He had been one of the last three to be taken out, so he saw the entire thing. He saw the massacre that took place.

So how was he still alive.

Vrrithix grunted as he started to push himself back up but froze as a shadow fell over him.

He looked up to see the monster that had decimated them without so mush as the slightest bit of effort, looming over him with it odd weapon held at it's side and it's helmet staring down at him.

'Ah, just savoring the victory…' Vrrithix thought before closing his eyes and waiting for the cold release of death…

…

…

…

No death came for him though, only two words in a language that Vrrithix did not know, much to his confusion.

Eventually, he dared to open his eyes, only to see something that perplexed him.

The Guardian was holding one of it's misshapen, five fingered claws out to him, palm up.

Vrrithix was beyond confused. What was it waiting for? Was it trying to summon the Great Machine's Light to smite him with? Why hesitate where others had not?

The Guardian just continued to stand that way before tilting it's head in what looked like confusion, before it's helmet Transmatted off, letting Vrrithix see the Guardian's flat, alien face and it's…impressive head crest. Vrrithix was unaware that Human carapaces could grow into spikes like that.

Then again, he had never actually seen one without a helmet on before.

More words that Vrrithix didn't understand fallowed and he just looked between the Guardian's face and hand. Too confused and terrified to do anything.

The Guardian eventually rolled it's eyes before dispelling it's weapon and grabbing the Dreg by his shoulders and pulling him to his feet, then proceeded to dust off his arms.

Vrrithix was frozen in shock. He didn't know what was going on or what to do. He didn't know enough of the Human languages to understand what was being said. He didn't understand why the Guardian had spared him or what the expressions he was making with his face meant.

Wasn't showing your teeth usually a threatening expression?

The Guardian gave a thoughtful hum as he looked Vrrithix over and spoke a few more words. He then re-summoned his weapon and held it aloft.

The next thing Vrrithix knew, green light shined off the Guardian and his weapon and suddenly the pain was gone.

All of it.

To Vrrithix's amazement and bafflement, his pain was gone and not just from the Guardian's attack. His body no longer ached from a lack of ether and while he was still hungry, he no longer felt as if he was starving to death.

But why?

Vrrithix just couldn't understand why this was happening after what they did and everything he'd seen from other Guardians.

Vrrithix was broken from his thoughts again though as the Guardian tilted it's head with a hum and leaned down to look at his severed arms, which made the Dreg even more uncomfortable.

The Guardian then looked up and spoke to the air as if communicating with someone before it's eyes widened in shock then a combination of sadness and anger.

Then, before Vrrithix could react, the Guardian grabbed the stub of his missing left arm and touched the tip of his weapon to the end.

Then, to Vrrithix's amazement, the Docking Cap let out a hiss as it fell off.

Vrrithix was too stunned, staring at his liberated arm that could now be regrown, to notice the Guardian doing the same to the other one.

By the time he snapped out of it, the Guardian had moved over to one of his comrades and began removing his Docking Caps as well.

But wait, why would he do that for the dead.

Vrrithix's eye widened as he heard the other Dreg groan a little, then looked around and realized that they were all still alive.

The Guardian had spared them all.

The same question kept repeating over and over again in his head as Vrrithix watched the Guardian work.

Why?

Suddenly, a memory came back to him. A story from another House, of a Vandal named Misraaks who was captured by the blue Humans and spared. It was the story that had inspired him to look into their history to understand.

Vrrithix looked back to the Human that let him live and healed him as he contemplated what had transpired and glanced down at his freed arms.

Then to the dagger below him.

Vrrithix looked between his discarded dagger and the Guardian before finally coming to a decision and picked up the dagger. Vrrithix then marched up to the Guardian with dagger in hand.

The Human finished removing the last of the Docking Caps. He then noticed Vrrithix and turned to face him. His eyes flew to the dagger but he made no hostile actions as Vrrithix stood before him.

Vrrithix could tell the Human was tense and ready for him to attack but still made no move to raise his weapon.

The tension seamed to evaporate though, as Vrrithix set the dagger on the ground, the point aimed at his own foot and gave a bow. Not just any bow though, an Ireliis bow. The traditional greeting of the Eliksni. What the Fallen were before becoming Fallen.

"Velask" Vrrithix speaks the greeting.

The Human looks confused at first but then shows it's-…his teeth again. Vrrithix is starting to think that showing one's teeth is a good sign among Humans.

The Human seams to think for a moment as he looks to his own weapon before deciding to mimic Vrrithix and set the weapon on the ground and bowed while saying a word in his own language.

"Hello"

The Human butchered the greeting but Vrrithix doesn't mind. He's more happy to be alive and more amazed by what's happening right now.

The two stood up strait. Vrrithix towering over the Human that had swatted them down like flys. The Human was about to speak but some of the other Dregs were starting to wake up.

The Human seamed unconcerned but Vrrithix began to panic. His comrades were not as open minded as him. Blinded by hate, many would fight to the death.

Vrrithix hesitantly grabbed the Human's shoulder before he could go to the other Dregs and flinched a little as the Guardian looked at him, but made no hostile moves.

Vrrithix took a breath to calm himself as he tried to remember the right Human gestures or words to use, but there were so many of them that it boggled his mind.

Eventually he settled for turning his head from one detection to the other.

It…might have worked…Vrrithix didn't know what that particular disfiguring of a Human's face meant.

Fortunately, The Guardian's Ghost appeared and spoke to it's Human. Vrrithix was actually a little awed to get such a close look at one of the Great Machine's creations, without getting atomized…Or any number of horrible deaths.

The Guardian seamed…saddened perhaps? By it's Ghost's words, but still smiled at Vrrithix again all the same. He then held out his hand again, this time with his palm to the side.

Vrrithix hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking the Human's hand in his own claw. He was surprised when the Guardian gripped it firmly and began moving their hands up and down before letting go.

"See ya!" The Human spoke while waving his hand in the air, before blue light enveloped him and he disappeared in a flash of speed as the Dregs began to fully awaken.

Vrrithix turned to try and find where the Guardian had went, but all he saw was a dust cloud out in the distance.

Vrrithix looked down to pick up his dagger before the others finished waking up but froze when he saw the Guardian's weapon was still there. He quickly looked back to see if the Guardian would come back for it but saw no sign of him.

Vrrithix hesitated for a moment before picking up the weapon and his hand trembled as he felt the power surging through it. In a way it almost reminded him of the Splicer gauntlets he'd seen used in The House of Devils. But before could examine further, the weapon vanished in a flash of white and purple light.

The Fallen stared at his hand for a moment as the embers of the weapon's Light, flickered for a moment before vanishing.

Vrrithix then looked around at the other Dregs around him that were getting up and realizing that their Docking Caps were gone.

Vrrithix then closed his claw around the last bits of Light he felt and held himself taller, like the proud Vandal he once was as passion burned in his chest once again. He then picked up his dagger and pistol as his eyes zeroed in on the foolish Vandal that had lead them here.

He may not have fully understood what happened but he knew what he had to do now.