Summer Rose stared up at the Moon, slowly but surely, her breathing calmed down. She brushed away the tears that kept rising up and blew her nose on a tissue.

She just sat there, on the roof of a relatively high building of the City. She was there the entire night. What time was it now, midnight? It was far later than that. It had to be somewhere around 2...

Whatever. It didn't matter. Summer reached a hand to her side, grabbing a bottle filled with a liquid none other than alcohol.

Ripping the lid off with a flick of a finger, she pushed the burning liquid down her throat, coughing once she was done. She'd never been good at drinking before.

But for now, she just wanted focus on the pain and the dizziness as she drank away like there was no tomorrow. She wanted to drink her memories away. She wanted to forget.

As an unsettling reminder to her past; Ruby was now here. Indeed, it was quite a pleasant surprise to see her daughter again, alive.

But knowing what she'd go through? Now that wasn't pleasant.

Summer sighed, throwing away the empty bottle over her shoulder. A notable "shatter" was heard, before a familiar voice filled the air. "Littering is not a good thing, Guardian." It was Ghost. He was blinking his blue eyes, staring at her with a sad gaze. His eyes turned to the broken bottles littering the roof.

"Have you been drinking? I mean... you were never this good at it. Do you... wanna talk about it, maybe?" A suggestion from Ghost. If she was on her right mind, she would've replied with a "no"... But she was just too drunk on both booze and sadness to care.

"Mm." Summer nodded her head without paying much attention. Ghost was next to her shoulder in an instant. "Sorry I was late, by the way. I needed to tell Rubrum about everything she needed, and then she started assaulting me with a ton of questions. I had to answer them!" In response to the jokingly-stated apology, Summer's shoulders shook a little as she gave a small chuckle. But right after, a sigh left her mouth.

It still hurt. Her heart still ached.

Ghost then stared off into the horizon as he asked her a simple question. "So... how are you feeling right now?"

A simple question, a simple answer with a gesture. ...Drunk.

"Not that. I meant by your mood." Summer frowned before she opened her mouth and gave an honest answer.

"I feel like shit."

Symphony of a Young Rose

~A story of roses and blood~

Chapter 4: The Longing

"Oh." Ghost floated there with surprised eyes, awestruck by her words. He was probably more surprised by the fact that she spoke so soon, not by the words she spoke. Or the other way around... Summer didn't care in the slightest, and her head was in a spin anyway. She couldn't think straight.

"I... I'm sorry you feel this way, Guardian. I'm supposed to be your partner. I'm the one who's supposed to be listening to you when you need it. Not... all this. I'm sorry." Ghost looked downwards at the shattered bottles littered all over the floor as he mumbled out an apology. She wanted to say: "Why are you apologizing for something you never did?"

But in the end, in the haze of her lost and hurt heart, she wasn't able to say anything. Instead, she downed more of the intoxicating liquid through her throat.

"...I'm not sure if you'll listen to me, but... would you mind if we took a short break? I mean... we've been at this job for so long. Crota, Oryx, Ghaul... Uldren. And now, all this... Guardian, you deserve a break. Just for a few days... please?" The question passed over her head, and it was left unanswered. Before Ghost could say any more, yet another bottle crashed on the floor.

The unspoken meaning was clear.

"...Alright, just... let's not go back to our room too late. If you want anyone to talk to, I'll be here." Ghost stared off at the city's gleaming buildings and signs with a sigh. Summer's eyes drifted around, focusing on seemingly nothing but the blurry, painful memories which were branded into her brain.

Something blurred her sight. Summer wasn't sure if it was the tear that was welling up beneath her eyes, or the alcohol she consumed earlier that was hindering her sights.

Through her blurred vision, Summer looked at the never-moving paracausal god that was towering over the city and looming over her, the Traveler.

A whisper almost left her mouth as she stared up at the blurry form of a gigantic deity. Why'd it have to be her? It was the question she kept asking herself and the Traveler. Why did her daughter out of everyone else had to get chosen as yet another Guardian to suffer the painful, eternal loop of death?

No matter how much she thought about it, the answer never became clear in her head. It only got further and further from her.

No matter what she did, the world kept taking away everything she cared about.

No matter how much she struggled... she couldn't do anything about it.

Summer felt powerless, and she couldn't do anything about it at all. And that was precisely why she was angry at herself.

She shook violently as she desperately tried to keep the tears away from overflowing her eyes and suppress her own desperate, sobbing voice. Despite the efforts, droplets of tears fell on the dusty, old roof, staining it with dark, wet marks of sadness.

It fell again, and again, over and over, staining the roof more and more. She couldn't stop it from falling out of her eyes, nor could she keep the muffled sobs inside.

The Ghost was next to her in an instant, letting out a silent and slow, but comforting whisper. "Shh, it's okay... It's okay, Guardian. I'm here... everything's going to be okay. I promise."

The muffled sobs soon became cries of anguish and sadness.

But even after letting out cries after cries, the pain within the depths of her heart never disappeared.

The stabbing pain always lingered there, as a painful reminder of the harsh truth, tormenting her eternally.

Red yawned as she rubbed her eyes, the sunlight that was illuminating the room through the windows had woken her up. When she felt the warm blankets and covers around her, she immediately rolled herself up inside it once more, burying her face within the pillows and closing her eyes. She wanted to sleep just a bit more...

Maybe a little... more...

...

"Guardian?"

...

"...Red?"

...

"Hey, Guardian? We gotta go. Hello? Red?" Something nudged her in the back. She groaned.

"Hey! Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Hey, wake up! Red! Are you listening?!"

"Wake up! I swear, I'm going to-" Red jolted upright into a sitting position, annoyance clear on her face. "Ungh, I'm up, I'm up! Why do I need to wake up so early?" She complained, grumbling and rubbing her eyes in sleepiness.

What she wouldn't do to go back to sleep right now...

"Well, as much as I want to let you sleep more, it's in the middle of a day. And the Guardian's been missing. I don't know where she went since... y'know, yesterday." Red blinked in surprise when she heard that.

"Wait, she's missing? Where'd she go?" Rubrum's reply wasn't much of a help, either. "I don't know! The last thing I heard from them was something about drinking. But I don't know where!"

Red grumbled as she clutched her head. "Ungh, where would she be...? Think, think!" Her brain activity began hastening as she thought about where the Guardian might have gone to. The courtyard? No, that's not it... Oh, maybe the ramen place? Maybe...

Some thoughts raced through her head, but she couldn't think of any satisfactory answers. So, she decided otherwise. "It's useless sitting here. Let's go find her ourselves! Maybe she's just busy."

Picking up the red cloak hanging on the wall, she wrapped it around her shoulder and walked out, Rubrum trailing close behind her.

Creak... She opened the door, peeking outside into a short hallway. This was a building reserved for Guardians, and she could indeed spot a few, chatting in the hallway.

"Hey, watched that Crucible match I took part in yesterday? I was doing so good until I got hit by a shotgun in the face!"

"Err... I think I might've missed it. I was busy gettin' guns from Banshee."

"Oh, come on! How could you have missed that?"

Ignoring the idle chatters, Red walked along the hallway. If she were to be honest... It was really lively. Everyone was talking here and there, laughing left and right, and it almost felt like she was home.

Though she couldn't shake off the feeling that she did not belong here.

Shaking the uncomfortable feeling off, Red set out to find where the Guardian had went. She was pretty hungry, too... Maybe she could ask for breakfest.

But first? She had to make a way out of this building-shaped maze.

/-/

One, unfathomably long and painful hour later...

/-/

"Fina- Ungh, finally..." Red gasped for air as she opened the final door that lead to her exit. Apparently, the building that she was in was far more complicated and gigantic than she thought it was. It took her an entire hour to navigate through the building. And now, she was staring at a sky clearer than any other skies she had seen.

The soft blue color and the fluffy white clouds drew her attention, easily distracting the young Lightborn.

"Uh, hey. I know the sky looks cool... But finding the Guardian and all? We need to go. We can look at the sky all you want after that, though. I promise!" Red snapped out of her trademark 'Ooh... So cool' gaze thanks to her Ghost, Rubrum.

Red tore her gaze away from the sky and then turned it back towards the endless roads that sprouted through the entire city. Red could only gulp in fear. How was she supposed to find the Guardian in here?!

"Do you have any idea where Guardian and Ghost went? I mean... this city is huge! Really, really big 'n all... I think it might be a little hard." Red mumbled as she stared up and down at the high buildings inside the city, and the walls surrounding it.

How was she going to find her way out of this concrete jungle?

The Guardian didn't move an inch in her sleep until a bright light flashing down on her face slowly began to woke her up. She grumbled and shuffled around, pulling her cloak over her and curling up her legs. The bright daylight, combined with the cold breeze, was more than enough to break her will to sleep and wake her up completely.

And then the first thing she was greeted by was a heavy headache.

With a heavy groan, she covered her face with both of her hands and wimpered in pain. Just how much drinks had she downed yesterday? And why was her face wet- Oh.

She remembered.

Through the heavy headache, the Guardian felt her mood grow darker with guilt and sadness once more. At the very least, the stabbing pain within her heart was numbed, even if slightly.

She wasn't so sure if she could call that a progress, though.

"Oh, hey. Good morning. You kind of slept through the rest of the night, so I guess you're suffering some kind of a hangover. Give me a moment..." If Ghosts had facial expressions, he'd be smiling kindly as he shone a constant stream of healing light on her face.

Immediately, the effect was clear to her. It was as if the headache was never there in the first place.

"Feeling any better?" Summer nodded in response with a grateful(yet fake) smile on her face. Although, the same light that helped fix her hangover did not fix the growing pain in her heart. It only increased in intensity day by day. But she couldn't let her pain show, not when Ru-Red was watching.

"Okay, Guardian. Er, not trying to urge you to rush it, but I think Red and Rubrum got lost in the City, and they called for our help. So, erm... ready when you are?" Summer frowned, but nodded anyway. It wasn't a good idea to run away from problems, and Summer knew that from experience better than anyone.

"CAYDE!"

"H-hey. Good to see you too... H-How's my hair?"

"Please, stay with me, please..."

"G-Ghost? Y-You can do something, right? DO SOMETHING!"

"...I-I... There's nothing I can do... I'm sorry."

...

"-You tell Zavala and Ikora..."

"The Vanguard's the best bet... I..."

"...ever... lost."

"N-no, Cayde. Tell them yourself! Come on, let's go home! Please, p-please... let's go home."

"...Cayde?"

"...Cayde, this isn't funny. Wake up."

"WAKE UP! Please, don't leave me here..."

...

Summer shook her head violently as she tried to clear her head from the terrible memory.

Anything to keep her busy from thinking about that very moment.

Take in a deep breath, let it out. Take in a deep breath... let it out. She readjusted herself for the day ahead of her, and the face she was bound to see once again.

Her heartbeat slowly found its steady pace once again, away from the erratic and quick pattern it had settled on due to the stress she received.

I can do this, just keep it calm. Summer told herself, although she was unsure if she could. Her memories kept lashing her heart. It hurt. It hurt far too much. She would rather get shot in the chest instead of feeling this heartache.

But the world continued on without her, and she had to catch up.

She hid her face behind her hood once more before she began to head down from the rooftop.

"Hey, Guardian. You should check this out." Rubrum called out to Red, who was busy trying to not run into any person passing by.

"Uh, give me a second here... Oh! Sorry, sorry..." She yelped in surprise when her shoulder rammed into someone in an accident. They were probably going to yell at her, and then-

When she turned her head to face who she had rammed her shoulders into, the helmet of the Guardian stared back at her. She shrieked for a brief moment, more out of surprise than fear.

"By the Traveler, calm down! We're supposed to get you out of here, not get more attention..." Ghost pointed out when Red managed to finally calm down. Some people were turning their head to look at them, but only a few recognized the Guardian, thanks to the oversized white cloak wrapped around her body.

"O-oh, thank god. I was so scared that I might have made someone angry..." Red let out with a sigh of relief, her shoulders drooping. Then, she perked up, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. "Where were you?! I was so confused and alone!"

The Guardian made a panicked, but apologetic gesture in response. Sorry I'm late. Had some stuff to do.

Red seemed somewhat satisfied by the explanation, but the people around the pair didn't look like the same could be said for them.

Grabbing onto Red's arm, she anxiously looked around at the crowd that was now all staring at the pair.

"Hey, I know that girl. The slightly taller one! That's the Guardian!"

"Wait, she's here? The hero of the Red War?"

"She's a legend!"

"I wanna see, let me see!"

Of course, the crowd had to recognize just who she was at the worst timing of all it could have been. Thinking quickly, she quickly searched her pockets for her emergy escape ticket out of these uncomfortable situations before they could start assaulting her with questions.

Beep! With a satisfying noise, the transmat device in her hands lit up before it transported the Guardians out of the streets as a silver ship flew across the sky.

A moment too soon were Red transported.

Immediately losing her sense of balance due to the sudden teleportation, Red felt her feet slip out from beneath her as she flipped on her back. It collided against the floor, hard, making her groan in pain. "...Ungh... My back..."

Rubrum was quick to catch up to her, soothing the pain with a soft blue light emitting from her eyes. "Ow, thanks. Also, what was that for? We could've just walked out of there just fine."

Ghost quickly filled in the missing information, instead of the Guardian. "My Guardian is... Well, she doesn't really like being in the spotlight. And she sorta feels uncomfortable when a lot of people just groups up on her." Drawing in close, Ghost whispered a few more things to Red. "Don't tell my Guardian that I told you this, but... she's stressed now more than ever. Think you can do a favor for me?" Red quickly spared a gaze at the Guardian, who wasn't currently in the room, away from their conversation.

Red nodded after making sure that the Guardian didn't hear them.

"Alright, I just need you to stick around her for a while, let her get used to your presence, y'know. She's not going to like it, but it's the only way to..." Ghost seemed to ponder off for a moment before be continued. "Get you two along."

"I think I can do that. What's she sad about, though?" Red whispered a question back at the Ghost, who shook his head-shell-whatever that was-thingy in response.

"It's a little personal. I can't tell you about that, sorry."

Red smiled reassuringly. "It's fine, we all have those kinda things we don't wanna talk about... Well, except from me. I was alive for a day or two." Red added with a giggle before turning her gaze towards the Guardian... wait, where was she?

Rubrum hummed before she flew around her young Guardian, gazing around the ship's interior. "I think the Guardian might have gone to her room... I don't think we should disturb her, but it's your choice. Ghost said he was going to follow her, too." She informed Red, soon disappearing back to... well, wherever Ghosts went when they vanished.

Hmm, I feel like I should follow her. But... she seemed really sad. Would it really be nice of me to interrupt her personal time? Red pondered off.

If she were to go in, nobody knew how the Guardian would react.

It was Rubrum that gave her the last ounce of encouragement that she needed to determine her actions. "Hey, do what you want to do, dummy. Er, no pressure."

Red rolled her eyes before she walked close to the door that likely lead to the Guardian's room. She put a hand on the door, before she pushed.

The door opened ever so slightly, but the sounds that came through the small opening was enough for Red to know what was happening in there.

It was a terrible, terrible sound.

Sobbings, cries of anguish. Red knew exactly what the Guardian was up to, and that made her feel worse. Was she really supposed to just... sit here?

She didn't want to. She wanted to help.

Her gaze waved and flickered around in panic for a few moments, before it turned stern as she pushed the door open completely.

Creak... The noise was more than loud enough to alert the Guardian, who had flinched as she turned her head towards the door. A helmet was covering her face still.

Red calmly smiled and waved her hand at her. "Hey. Sorry for interrupting, but I was sorta getting hungry. Soo... wanna eat something?" A calm, soft gaze met the Guardian's shaky one before the Guardian's gaze softened as well, though it was unnoticable owing to her helmet.

After a second that felt like minutes to an end, Red finally received a nod in response.

"Oh! Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Red happily snatched the Guardian's hand without any hesitation and pulled her along.

Red felt the Guardian's fingertips tense and dig into the palm of her hands, but she gave no sign of pain or discomfort. A smile was all she gave.

The Guardian's tight grip on her hand slowly loosened, and Red smiled widely. Progress!

Although it was slight, she still was making progress, slowly and nicely.

The one thing Red didn't know, however, was that the Guardian herself was not feeling very well.

An entire damn month. Wow. I am really disappointed in myself...

I am really sorry for this late update. Really, really sorry.

Aside from that, I wanted to explain about Ruby(better known as Red in this story)'s behavior here. As stated in the character cards from our last chapter, she really wants to help the Guardian, Summer.

But Summer doesn't want Ruby to be around her, because it brings bad memories back up... And well, Ghost is trying to make Summer warm up to Red.

As you can see, it's still on progress.

But! I wanted to focus on the traumas and damages Summer received next chapter, so we'll see about that.

One last thing before I leave; Here's a small description of Ruby's subclass!

Huntress

Unique Light Subclass

A vow of a protector, now re-born as an eternal bond.

Petal Burst

Unique Class Ability

Charge in any direction desired while becoming immune to all damage. Enemies you pass through become distorted.

Lightrose Swarm

Unique Melee Ability

Enemies hit by this melee attack will be swarmed with distorting rose petals, before they are picked up by the harsh winds and thrown away.

Enemies hit during the effects will take more damage from any sources.

Every Rose...

Unique Super Ability

Manifest a Light-fueled Sniper Rifle and wield it to strike down enemies of the Light.

...Has Its Thorns

Unique Ability

When activated during your Super, change your Light-fueled weapon into a two-handed scythe.

Activate this ability again to revert it back to its rifle form.