"Alright, let's run this down one more time. So, we detected increased Hive activity on the Moon, along with a new Crimson Fortress standing on it, whatever that is supposed to be... Are you with me?" The Guardian snapped back to reality upon her Ghost's call.

"You were dozing off, weren't you?" The Guardian groaned, putting one hand against her face and slowly sliding it down. She was more than sure she could take the Hive on right now, and everything could be fine.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Why am I listening to this briefing when I can go shoot bad guys?' Well, that's the exact mentality we had while we fought Crota. Remember what happened?" She did. Too many Guardians had died on the Moon that day.

"Now, since you missed everything I was trying to explain, I'll make this simple. Hive on the Moon again, Crimson Fortress, we're going down there to stop the Hive from flooding out and to investiage this Fortress." The Guardian nodded in response, shrugging. That's it?

"Basically, yeah. Land, shoot baddies, find out what happened. Simple." Ghost finished just as the Moon was visible through the ship's window.

The Guardian slowly left her seat, moving down to the lower section of her ship, particularly the Armory.

Once she stepped into the room, she could see all of her collections placed on the wall and the floor, each of the weapons were assigned their own spots.

She put her hand on her chin for a brief moment, wondering what she should take.

After a moment of thinking, she decided to take the Ace of Spades, which was hanging on the wall closest to the door. She wouldn't go anywhere without it.

Next was the Reefmade Sniper Rifle, Supremacy. She remembered getting it during the last hunt of the final Ahamkara, Riven.

She admired how wonderful the craftsmanship of the weapon was, and it was fairy reliable and light.

Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she made her last choice on the weapons she would bring today.

A sword of fine blade, light enough to wield with one hand, and sharp enough to cut through Hive Chitin with ease. It was the Quickfang.

Unlike the daggers she usually carried, the longer reach made it much more comfortable to use in a chaotic fight, while the lightweight blade made it easy to wield even in the most crowded areas.

And most importantly, it looked pretty good.

Black Talon was also a close second, but it was a little heavy to swing, and in result, took much longer to recover from each swings.

After making sure the blade had found the right spot on her back, she turned to face her Ghost with a thumbs-up.

"Ready to go, I see? Okay. We're almost at the landing zone. Transmat in three, two, one..."

And then, the next thing she knew, her feet was touching the grey surface of the moon.

Symphony of a Young Rose

~A story of roses and blood~

Chapter 6: The Scarlet Keep

The Guardian's Quarters

Last City, Earth

"Unnnnnghh. Rubrum, are our equipments ready yet?" Red almost cried out in boredom as she lazed around in the Guardian's dorms, sitting on a soft couch and leaning far into it.

Just as it seemed like she couldn't sink in any further, she bolted upright at the sound of Rubrum's words. "Hey, ready to go pick your stuff up?"

"Finally! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Red smiled and excitedly fetched her red cloak off of the wall, soon rushing out of the Guardian's dorms, and into the hallway.

"Guardian- Red, slow down! By the Traveler..." Rubrum couldn't get a chance to stop her from bolting out of the room. Instead of flying behind her in a wild goose chase, Rubrum vanished into white particles of light.

The next moment, Red slipped and crashed into the floor, mostly due to Rubrum appearing right in front of her. "Woah-Ah, OW!"

She slid for a good meter or two with her face against the floor. Her head was in a spin, and she was more than surprised the initial impact to her head didn't kill her.

"I told you to slow down. The halls are usually real slippery thanks to the cleaning robots." Through her spinning vision, Red could spot a regular looking robot holding a mop soaked in water. It looked at her and spoke with a robotic voice. "Have a wonderful day."

Red groaned and clutched her head with her hands. It hurt. "You could've told me that sooner..."

"You were busy dozing off. And of course, running soon after." Rubrum asked with a motion similar to a person rolling their eyes. But how could she wait when she was so excited about it?

"Anyway, on your feet, now. I don't want you slipping and falling over again." Her Ghost flew around before she vanished into thin air once more. Red still didn't know how Ghosts did that.

"Ungh, okay, okay, I'm up..." Red pushed herself up to her feet with a grunt, and this time, she made sure she walked. Though, she couldn't stop her heart from racing.

After the hallways came the stairs, and then, finally, she was on the top floor of the building. What did they call it again, the Tower?

The sky was blue, with a flock of birds flying across the sea of clouds. The giant white orb people called the Traveler was also in the view.

Overall, the view was just simply breathtaking for Red. But she couldn't stop staring at the sky and the city forever.

"There he is. You see that Exo? His name is Banshee. Banshee-44. He's one of the best gunsmiths in the Tower." Rubrum nodded at the direction of a small workshop. There was, indeed, a robot... Exo? Working in it.

She approached the workshop, passing a flock of disappointed Guardians. She could pick up a few groans and angry mutters.

But no matter, Red awkwardly approached the mechanical gunsmith and broke the silence. "Uh, hello."

The Exo seemed to hear her greet him, but he simply made a grunt in response, and not anything else.

"...Uhm, I'd like to r-retrieve my weapons... I thought they were done repairing." Red could almost feel a bead of sweat slowly flow down on her face. She hated her not-so-well social skills!

"...Huh, have I seen you before? ...Nah, couldn't be it... Ah. You mean that weapon." Red saw Banshee turn his head to look at a unique weapon placed on one of the workbenches. It was no other than her own weapon!

"Yeah, that's it! Can I retrieve it now?" Red perked up at the sight of the rifle, pointing at it with her small hands.

"...Mmhm. Take it with you. Not going to lie, that's a unique one right there, I still remember working on it." The Exo mindlessly threw the weapon into her arms, Red tried to catch the weapon before it settled in her arms.

"No idea how you plan to use it, but do as you will."

"Oh, thanks! Uh, heh. I need to go now, is that fine for you? Or do I..." Red awkwardly sputtered her words for a moment, before the Exo replied: "You can go."

"Oh, a-awesome. I'll be seeing you later!" Red was gone from the spot the next moment, only rose petals drifting around in the air told of her presence moments ago.

"...Strange fellows." Banshee pondered to himself as he picked up a rifle he was working on. That weapon was quite the wonder.

Sorrow's Harbor

The Moon

"The entrance is clear, we're moving in." Ghost alerted in the comms, the Guardian climbing out of the Drake tank she was driving before giving it a sad gaze. She should definitely ask Holiday to get her another, she thought to herself.

"Be careful, we don't know what's waiting for you in there." Ikora alerted her as the Guardian walked through the ominous crimson gates. The damned keep stood taller than any Hive fortress she had ever seen so far... aside from the Dreadnought.

But Ikora had mentioned Eris had went in before her. Maybe she could find trails of dead bodies, Eris usually had that effect on anything she fought.

"Seems like we'll be visiting yet another Hive fortress. Ready when you are, Guardian." She gave a nod to Ghost before beginning to walk into the fortress.

The Guardian kept the Ace of Spades close to her chest, cautiously looking around every corners.

The farther she went into the fortress, the less it looked like a normal keep. Chitin tiled floors soon became lunar rocks, and she was soon travelling through utter darkness with just Ghost's flashlight to rely on for vision.

Her comms were soon shut out. She was truly alone in this dark caverns... Just another day at the office.

Her radar systems said otherwise, however. She could see it spike red, and it pointed directly behind her. But when she turned around, there was nothing there. "Guardian, s-something's messing with me. It feels like something is digging through my Light..." Ghost mumbled out weakly.

And then, she saw it.

A dark and red image, and it looked like as if it was directly ripped from her memories. But was it?

A Nightmare would be a more suiting name for what she had indeed seen.

There was a hooded humanoid figure, shrouded in darkness. But the Guardian couldn't tell who. Though deep in her heart, she could feel something that tingled inside her.

This figure was someone she knew. But... who?

The Guardian couldn't figure out, however, as the figure soon shifted and disappeared into the darkness.

"What... what was that?" Ghost mumbled, it seemed that isolation and the fear of unknown was slowly poking at him. The Guardian would be lying if she said otherwise, as well.

And then, her radar spiked up once more. Immediately, the Ace of Spades was flicked upwards, and a Thrall trying to swing its claws at her received only a bullet to the face.

"Six'o'clock!" Just as Ghost shouted in alarm, the Guardian leaned away from another swing of a Thrall that was trying to sneak up on her.

She was getting swarmed from all sides, and the Guardian knew she wouldn't last long in this darkness.

Weave after weave, the Guardian gracefully dodged each swings made at her, narrowly avoiding the claws as she made her way through the group of Thralls.

A few scratches were made here and there, but she was able to dance through the swarm. And indeed, she now could line up a flawless shot now.

A Tripmine Grenade was thrown into the swarm of Thralls, the Guardian expecting them to be taken out easily.

However, her expression morphed into an expression of surprise once she realized this was no ordinary Hive she was dealing with.

The Thralls were indeed, affected by the explosion. Their image wavered for just a moment.

But they reformed, and just as she expected them to rush at her, the Thralls were gone.

"Guardian, on your six!"

When she reacted, she was too late. She could feel a burning hot pain shoot through her body, and she turned her head backwards to spot a Thrall viciously claw out flesh from her back.

I let my guard down. She thought to herself with a grunt. It didn't hurt much, but she let the moment of surprise get the better of her, and that annoyed her just enough.

With an evasive roll pushing her body out of any more harm's way, the Guardian made some space from the approaching Thralls. Under her helmet was a pair of sharp eyes gazing into her prey.

She let her guard down once. She wouldn't do it again.

The hammer on her hand cannon was flicked backwards several times by her hands, and each time, it spit out burning hot lead.

And as much as they were effective against flesh, these spectral images were no different.

A flurry of bullets took out the Thralls, leaving no corpse but only strange clouds of Darkness energy, which soon dissipated into the air.

"...These Hive, they're not actually Hive. Their energy signatures are completely different." Ghost mumbled out in realization beside her as he fixed up the nasty cut on her back.

"Let's keep moving. We have to find out what's going on here." The Guardian nodded in response to her partner. She wasn't planning to leave so soon.

The further she went into the dark caverns, the faster her pace became. And soon after, she dropped from an opening in the caverns, into a giant chasm in which she could see the Earth from.

But something was strange.

The dark figures she had seen, too many of them were floating around in the upper part of the chasm. She couldn't help but lock her eyes on such an odd scene.

It was oddly peaceful, but twisted. Something was definitely wrong.

"...I don't know what these things are, but I have a bad feeling..." Ghost mumbled. He seemed strangely afraid.

But most of all, his voice was almost shaky. Almost. The tiniest of shakiness in his voice was more than enough for the Guardian to catch on.

She looked at her Ghost, worry clearly visible on her face, though it was hidden by her helmet.

But wordlessly, she pushed on. She had answers to find.

The Last City

Earth

Red walked into what seemed to be an office of some sorts, her head turning around anxiously. "Uhm, hello?"

Her newly repaired weapon was strapped on her back, giving her a tiny bit of confidence she absolutely needed right now.

"Red, no need to be so worried. Commander Zavala is a nice person!" Rubrum spoke through her head, and Red couldn't really say that it relieved her that she had to meet a new person.

Although she was not given a lot of time to ponder about it. "You must be the newborn Guardian she was mentioning. I am Commander Zavala." A low-pitched voice rang out from the person sitting on the chair. He had... strangely purple skin, and glowing eyes.

Red was pretty sure that this Commander Zavala was someone scarier than she originally thought he would be, telling from how his eyes glowed. "Oh! Uhm, my name is Red, it's really nice to meet you, Commander Zavala, erm, sir."

"Indeed, I feel the same way meeting you. Now, let us skip the pleasantries, there is work to be done. I am informed that you volunteered to be our eyes on the Moon. Is this correct?" He asked as he tapped a tablet he picked up off of the table, and Red nodded in response. "Y-yes, sir. I wanted to help. I can move fast when I want to."

"Ah, your... unique manifestation of the Light. I've heard from the Guardian. Ikora may be interested in you." Ikora? Who was Ikora? Ungh, she didn't know anything about this place. Red internally sighed, pondering off about how she had no time to catch up to the events that rapidly went off. Naturally, the Awoken's words were filtered out of her brain into a series of 'blah's.

In just a few days, she was brought back alive, and then narrowly avoided dying again, and then noticed that she was a Guardian. And she had to pay attention to the Guardian as well.

"Are you listening, Guardian?"

And then, now here she was, volunteering for a scout position on the Moon of this planet.

"Guardian." And... Oh! Right, right, the conversation. Red's attention sprung out from the depths of her mind as she slightly flinched from the sheer force behind the voice.

"...Are you still with me?" Red's short time of thinking to herself was cut off short, however. And she perked up in surprise, hurriedly letting off an answer. "Y-yes! Aha, what were we talking about?"

"...Your duty as a scout on the Moon. If you insist, then I need you to be our eyes. There are Guardians investigating the Hive activity on the Moon, and it would bring positive outcomes if you were to scout the area for any... additional threats." Zavala duly reminded her of what they were conversing about after giving a sigh. Red nodded in response.

"I can do that! I-I'm sure I can spot some bad guys before they come to attack us." Zavala gave a singular nod in response.

"Indeed. Your first scout mission, then. Go, assist the Guardians that are fighting for our City." Red gave a resolute nod in return before she left the office.

Once she walked back outside, and on the rift that took her to the very top of the Tower, she sighed. "Gosh, I was so nervous. I shouldn't have been..."

"Red, I told you he was a great person. You didn't need to get all nervous." Rubrum nudged her in the side, getting a groan from Red in response. "You know I suck at these things! Talking, and things..."

"Things like what? I didn't see you have trouble talking with the Guardian." Red flinched, letting out a quiet argument.

"That's different... she doesn't talk! And she obviously needs help." Red flailed her hands around as she made a counter-argument. If she could call it one...

"So you won't talk to anyone who doesn't need your help?" Red flinched, and let out a whine out of her throat.

"Heeey, no fair! That's nothing like what I said!" Rubrum spun her shell around in a motion akin to a person rolling their eyes.

"...I'm just worried. What if my Guardian doesn't even make any friends?! What if she lives the entireity of her second life alone?" Red looked to the sides, feeling a little guilty. But... she did have friends! At least one!

"...I have the Guardian." Rubrum deadpanned.

"...Only one friend, then. Doesn't make it much better." Red slouched down even further.

"Aaaand I have you..." Rubrum stared at her for a few moment, before letting a small laugh out.

"I'm your partner, of course I'm here. I'll always be here for you." Red sprung back up to life, smiling brightly. Two friends! All she needed to live.

"See? All I need! Problem solved." Rubrum groaned the moment she heard Red speak. "...Forget it, you dolt..."

Of course, the pair went right back to idly chatting and laughing from the awkward moment very quickly. Red's laughter echoed throughout the air as she walked to the hangar, unaware of the future that was waiting for her on the desolate moon.

The Moon

The Guardian walked through the cavern, passing nothing but rocks of various shape and size.

Each turn she took around the corner, the only thing she could spot were dust and unmoving shadows.

With an annoyed huff, the Guardian moved on each time. So far into the cavern, yet all she received in return was nothing but odd types of Hive.

However, the moment she set foot, she saw her radar spike in the corner of her eyes. A moment was all she needed to flick the Hand Cannon upwards and shove the barrel into a Thrall's mouth.

BANG! Without any hesitation, the poor thing's head was cleanly severed from its body.

"We've come too far to give up now. There has to be answers about these things." Ghost appeared over her shoulder, a motion she was way too used to, then mumbled. And he was right; She needed answers. The Tower needed answers.

So, she pushed on, deeper through the caverns. And soon indeed, she could finally see something that was buried within the Moon.

Indeed, her eyes widened in surprise when she came into a massive clearing, big enough to fit an entire city under the Moon's surface.

And something was filling almost the entire space under the Surface of the moon. It was rather quite simple. A pyramid.

A pyramid of what, she did not know. But what she knew was that it did not sit well with her.

"What in the Traveler's Light..." The Guardian heard mumble to himself. And she almost mumbled out the same thing. How could anyone not be surprised?

It almost felt like the Pyramid was reaching out to her, calling her, drawing her closer.

"This... I, I don't... It doesn't feel right. Be careful, Guardian." It seemed that her Ghost was also sensing the disturbance. The Guardian nodded in response, slowly and carefully hopping down to a platform large enough to run around in.

On the other side, she could see a way forward, and... Something.

It was floating slightly above the hard rock floor of the caverns, and it almost looked like something had ripped reality wide open and drew a crimson line in thin air.

Countless crimson vein-like projections were sprouting from the disturbance, making look even more horrid than it already was.

"What... what is that? Let me have a closer look." Ghost almost tried to fly closer to the thing, but the attempt was stopped by her hand abruptedly blocking his path. She wasn't about to let her Ghost dive in closer to... whatever that was.

"We'll, together." Ghost nodded at her short speech, flying close by her shoulder. They both approached the thing, step by step.

Although she was unsure if this was the right thing to do, the Guardian extended a hand, pushing it through the disturbance.

Her hand came bouncing off with a strange sound, apparently unharmed. Surprising. She half expected her hand to melt off, or anything worse.

"Huh. There's some sort of a disturbance here, but we can't exactly push through it..." the Guardian tried waving her hand through the hardened cloud of energy while the Ghost mumbled to himself, trying to figure out a way around. But this seemed to be the only way forward, unless they were willing to jump from the stiff cliff into... whatever awaited down below.

The Guardian frowned beneath her helmet when her hand came bouncing off again. All this way, and she'd found nothing.

Though her frustration was short-lived, as the giant cloud of red energy began moving, morphing, and shaping something she was too familiar with.

The formerly deceased Hive demigod landed on the floor, shaking the earth that was beneath them.

Nightmare of Crota, Son of Oryx

"No! Crota?! This can't be, he's dead! We killed him!" Ghost was by her side at an instant, mirroring her shocked gaze at the Hive demigod.

However, the Guardian didn't have much time to think about the situation, nor was she given much of a window to dodge the giant cleaver that was swung down at her.

She leaned her body as far as possible to the left, narrowly evading a swing that struck the floor, hard. Hard enough to create a shockwave that struck her in the ribcage, flinging her like a helpless ragdoll.

He was just as strong as he had been when he was alive. She knew she could afford absolutely zero mistakes.

Her ears rang, vision, cloudy. But she was soon able to recover her poise. The real problem wasn't the concussion, after all.

It was the fact that she was flying at a stone wall at unbearable speeds.

She had much accidents with the Architects, so she decided to not take the gamble today, not against this particular opponent, Crota.

The Guardian reached out with her hands, gathering the Light and forming two handful of daggers.

The very next moment, she leaped off of the Light cloud she conjured, turning her direction effectively. Away from likely death, towards Crota.

The Hive prince flinched and covered his face with one of his arms before he was struck with a volley of countless Solar-charged explosive knives.

Ghost and she both knew that wasn't it. This fight was long from over.

And it was soon proven to be true, as the Hive demigod swung his massive blade to clear the smoke, three eyes hatefully glaring at her.

She only brandished her weapons in return.

A few gunshots rang out as she rushed sideways, leaving herself the room to dive for cover if needed. Crota was a Hive demigod for a reason. Just swinging a blade like a fool wasn't enough to put you on that spot.

And she was glad that she did, because blue bolts of Darkness energy struck where she was just a moment ago.

Crota didn't seem fazed by the gunfire that struck him square in the face. Instead of firing down at her with his... Hive Magic or something, he raised one foot over the ground before stomping it.

The ground beneath her quaked, making her loose her footing and stumble. She'd almost forgotten how powerful this Demigod truly was.

The Guardian managed to recover her posture before a massive blade swung down at her, which she evaded with a quick and calm weave.

The shockwave didn't fling her like a ragdoll this time. She was holding Quickfang up defensively, deflecting majority of the impact she received.

Wide open. Seizing the opportunity tight in her hands, the Guardian jumped up as she swung the blade downwards.

A graceful leap, paired with a deadly edge.

The Hive prince let out a loud growl as a large slash appeared on his face. Although it wasn't enough to wound him greatly, she smiled in grim satisfaction.

That'll piss him off.

The moment she landed from her graceful attack, she leaped backwards, creating some space between her and Crota.

"Alright... what now, Guardian?" Ghost asked through their mental connection. He seemed almost scared.

And he was right to be, it took six Guardians to kill this thing, after all.

But right now? It had knelt down, a hand grasping at its face. A loud and enraged growl escaped its mouth, too.

She would be lying if she didn't feel good after bringing him down to his knees. But she knew not to let her guard down.

Instead, she backed off for now, making a clear distance between her and Crota. She knew he'd recover any moment now, and being close to him when that happened wasn't a good idea.

Just like she expected, the Hive god rose to his feet once more, a loud roar escaping his mouth as he raised his sword arm over the head.

Her face morphed into a face of terror when she realized that he was calling for backup.

Countless Thralls, some cursed variants of them, materialized. But that was the least of her worries.

Her eyes were frozen stuck on two shadows of the past that rose along with them.

There stood the Fanatic and Ghaul, towering over her. She could feel the cold sweat that was ran down along her face as she gulped, almost fearfully.

She knew this wasn't a fight she could win, and the grip on her sword got tighter than ever.

"Guardian, we have to go! Come on!" She forcefully moved her stiff body, breaking free from the fear that gripped her.

There was no way she could go back the way she came from, it was blocked off by the strange red energy.

Now, cornered off from her escape, she ran along the walls until she met with a cliff, There was no escape this way.

She turned her body, and brought Quickfang close to her body. Countless phantoms of her past stared at her.

Some were even forming as monsters far, far too familiar.

Ones she'd grown tired of fighting.

Creatures of the Grimm stood in the front line, snarling at her with their claws and fangs drawn.

Crota, the Fanatic, and Ghaul, accompanied by creatures of the Grimm. It was a strange sight, yes. But it was terrifying for her.

It was like the entire process of her trains of thoughts were abruptedly forced to a stop, fixated solely on the nightmares of her past instead.

But she was given no time to think, not at all. Instead, she acted.

"Guar-" As soon as Ghost spoke, she snatched him out of the air, close to her chest, and jumped.

Into the deep, darkness below, and she didn't know what awaited down there. One thing was sure, however:

It was definitely better than what she would face above.

Lunar Battlegrounds

The Moon

Red knew that she was on the right Moon the moment she felt her boots touch the sandy earth.

Huh, so it wasn't made of cheese... Wait, where had she gotten that idea from?

Red shrugged off the weird thought that popped into her mind randomly, inspecting the horizon.

The remnants of a long, bloody battle remained, but no enemies were to be seen. It was expected.

So, she turned her gaze to the sky, only for it to be met with the pitch black of outer space, and...

"Oh, hey! I can see the Earth from here!" She gasped in surprise when she saw the giant blue planet in the sky. Rubrum forced her out of the trance, though. "Don't get sidetracked, we have a job."

"W-wait, one last thing! How come we can breathe here and all? I don't even have a helmet!" Red asked one last question, and Rubrum decided to answer.

Way too simply. "Space magic."

Red blinked a few times, dumbfounded by the answer she had gotten. Duh, she knew magic wasn't real! But now that she thought about it, just how did she know that magic wasn't a thing?

"...Riiiiight. Anyway-" Before she could throw another question, Rubrum cut her off.

"I'll tell you when we get home from this job. Priorities, Red!" Red rolled her eyes in response. She definitely could ask the question, but now was not the time.

Especially when she needed to find wherever the Guardian was, or anyone else, and help them out.

So, she grabbed her new(old?) scythe-rifle from her back before unfolding it into its rifle form before she continued on her journey into this gray moon.

Desolation

The Moon

The first thing she could feel was intense, burning pain around her entire body.

The Guardian slowly opened her eyes, coughing and gasping in pain as she tried to raise her body. All she had received in return was even more impulses of pain resonating through her entire body.

It was no wonder why she was so hurt. She had taken the gamble and jumped from the cliff, into whatever was waiting for her down in this cold, dark abyss.

Relying on her instincts, she could feel that she was indeed lying on a hard, rock floor. Such was obvious. But another thing she noticed was the absence of her Ghost.

The warm feeling of Light she could feel whenever he was around was not here.

And she needed to find him.

With a painful groan making its way out of her mouth, she rolled her body, laying on her stomach. From there, she slowly pushed herself up until she was on her knees.

It was painful, but definitely better than laying down and awaiting for her death.

Now that she was sitting up, the Guardian could see the desolate, dark abyss she was facing. Or to be exact, she couldn't; Nearly the entireity of her sight was darkened.

The only thing she could see was her own body and armor, although barely. It was completely dark.

She yanked the Ace of Spades from its holster before standing up, and from there, she tried walking, one step after another.

After each step, she could feel the pain grow worse, but it did not slow her down, and neither did the Darkness surrounding her, seemingly slowly gnawing away at her sanity.

She had to find her Ghost, and she'd do it through hell and high water.

Sorrow's Harbor

The Moon

"Alright, so... what exactly are we scouting for?" Red asked as she looked through the scope of her Scythe-rifle which she hadn't thought up a name for(although she was sure the rifle had one).

Rubrum was by her side, looking at the distant scarlet fortress standing tall and high. That was the 'Scarlet Keep' everyone was talking about.

"Any stray Hive. Three eyes, chitin plates, howls like nothing else. You can't miss them." Red hummed in response. But she couldn't spot any, even in this massive clearing...

She'd volunteered to help, but all she could do was sit back and watch? Great...

"And the Guardian's in there, probably kicking bad guys' butt. This is unfair..." She pouted, before Rubrum sighed. "Red, you know this is an important job. We need to keep an eye out just in case things go bad."

"You're right. I wouldn't like being shot in the back, too." Red nodded with a sigh, her face slowly leaning further into the stock of her rifle.

But it was just sooo... so boring...

And everything began to fade out slowly into utter nothingness, her focus completely lost on the world around-

"RED!" A Ghost? But... That wasn't Rubrum.

Quickly folding her rifle, Red raised her body once more. And there he was, it was Ghost! But he looked so... hurt. Not in a physical way, but in an emotional way. His shell was slumped like how her shoulders would droop!

"Oh, no! Ghost! What happened? Where's the Guardian?!" Red was the first one to rush next to him with a gasp, followed by Rubrum closely.

"The Guardian... I-I... she's in trouble. We were falling, and she had me in her hands but... I lost her! Please, I need to find her. I need to!" Ghost sounded almost broken, and Red felt guilty about it, even though she had nothing to do with it.

"Okay, relax. Just relax, and tell us. Where can we find her?" Rubrum calmly asked him, to which he responded:

"Deep inside the keep."

Oh boy, were they up for some trouble.

Twist from the original Shadowkeep intro mission, huh?

Anyway, I'm getting a bit of time to write a little more these days. Hopefully my stories are getting more... readable.

I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you guys later.