"So, this is it?" She asked over the comms, staring into the inky black portal on the ground. It looked like a Taken distortion, flicking and swirling. The gruff single laugh of the Drifter as he responded tickled her ears.

"Yeah, that's it. My sources say it's something wicked, something perfect for someone like us, don't you think? You said you need an edge, sister. This is your chance."

Skylar bit back a sigh. She had said that, but she hadn't thought she'd be walking into another Throneworld – one where they weren't even sure to whom it belonged. Her lip twitched on one side in annoyance before she took in a deep breath. "Fine. I'll speak with you later."

A chuckle.

"See you on the other side Phantom – don't get lost in there now."

Skylar scowled, and once she'd passed through it, she had a feeling he was laughing at her still. Either that, or he was testing her. People loved testing her. Partners, he'd said, but apparently she needed to prove her worth, even after killing gods.

The world beyond was nothing but white and black and the shades in between. It was as cold as walking bare ass naked in Russia during winter and an eerie silence that came with a fresh dusting of snow. That was wrong – Skylar didn't feel the cold, but for a moment… just a moment she did. Eyes seemed to follow her as she made her way through a series of cliffs and traps, her footsteps echoing off of unseen walls, every movement leaving what looked like an after image. It felt wrong, it felt like –

There is no Light here.

That – it felt like that.

She cursed, the deadly, icy tones of a voice she could never forget. A voice that had rattled her bones and torn a gaping hole in a cavern without even trying. A voice she had ended with a cut off howling scream. Her heart shuttered and she halted on a thin, barely usable edge of stone, placing a hand to her helmeted head. Sterling chirped a worried string of words she couldn't quite make out. At least she knew whose Throneworld she was in.

"Xol," she hissed, knowing the worm god could hear her just fine in this abstract, polarized hellscape. She could feel the wisps of a shadowy touch curl around her in answer like a lost current of wind. What the hell had the Drifter gotten her into? Had he known what this was all along, or had he merely guessed? The creature's laughter shook his domain and she nearly faltered on her feet, jumping up and grabbing at another foot hold and then standing to overlook a vast gasping maw of space. There was no ground – Skylar couldn't see any ground, just perches with traps everywhere.

You shall drift, Xol hissed, taunting her. She hesitated, if only for a moment, taking one step back. You shall fall.

He was wrong. Entirely wrong. She wouldn't fall, she wouldn't fail.

She had promised.

Skylar crossed the endless void and she knew he watched every moment.

The path continued. Her footsteps echoed even louder, thumping like her heart in her ears. The sounds are twisting everything apart. Warping and ripping and digging in across her mind.

What is it you seek?

There was only darkness - the ground was there, somewhere, it had hidden her own feet up to her calves. A pocket of light, a square far ahead – too far – in front of her. Reach it, she had to reach it. One step at a time. Concentrate. Block it all out. Something skittered below her, gnawing teeth, creeping vines, silent screaming far, far below her. Her hands twitched, itching to grab at the twin hand cannons at her waist.

There is nothing to shoot here–

WHY HAVE YOU COME?

Why? Why had she…

A gunshot, the ripple of dying Light. A tearing gurgling sound as a comet flickered out and cooled to an empty shell as she clutched at him unwilling to let go. It's too painful, agonizingly painful. She was weak. She was so weak. She had to, needed to be more. The answer was right there in her mind, she had ignored it - denied it till now - but it was there, and it stared and writhed like a living thing.

Say it.

Why not say it?

Power. She was seeking power to wield. To hold back the – the what? WHAT? There was something, there had to be something. Evil. Tainted. Cold. She was cold even if she couldn't feel it and she wanted a defense against it, a power to shield and grasp and wipe away everything. Her scars burned, her bones ached, and suddenly she was back in the throne room with Crota and her Light was gone. The Thrall were everywhere, her knife couldn't move fast enough, and she shoved her beloved hand cannon down one's throat to keep its teeth from her neck. Talons dug in, tearing her apart, and Sterling was screaming, and blood was everywhere – Oh god. Ohgodno. Make it stop, make it end, make it NEVER end. She wanted, she wanted…

Everything.

Nothing.

She wanted it all.

Her nails dug into the armor over her stomach where purple scars burn and freeze repeatedly.

Laugher cracked the ground, forcing Skylar to jump, to reach out for the shining white box as her footing left her. It grew fast, harsh, the light blinding her. Hands grasped at the edge, jarringly her painfully, shattering the long gone throne room completely as she scrambled forward, pulling and clawing till she laid on firm solid stone, staring up at a white ceiling lined in green.

Green.

A color. It's stunningly pretty and Skylar doesn't even like green, even if it's her ghost's and her best friend's eye color.

Green was the color of the Hive.

What do you want from me?

"Power." No hesitation. The Drifter sent her here for a reason and now – now she knows why. He knew before she did. Ghostly blackened wind rippled across her skin ignoring her leather and armor, breaking through her protection in every way.

Prove it.

How? What must she do – WHAT MUST SHE DO?

Make it stop.

A laugh, but not from the god and not hers. Robotic and smooth. Warm metal fingers run down her arms, nipping plates on her shoulder, hot breath-NO. No-no-no. Stamp it down, push it away, burn it. BURN it.

'I'm here, I'm always here Skyla.'

"You're not," she whispered, clutching at her helmet, "You're gone. This is him. This is a trap, a test. Leave him out of this!" She wasn't even sure who she was screaming at anymore. Xol wasn't a wish dragon so how was he doing this? How very little they knew about worm gods…

What must I do to make it STOP?

The walls tremble with Xol's growling laughter.

You must drown in the deep.

Drown it what? Grief. Pain. Denial. Insanity.

Her mind is tearing, a gnawing biting pain that rends into a twisted pleasure.

MAKE. IT. STOP.

"Skylar!" her ghost's voice in her ears. She gasped. "Focus!"

"Sterling…"

Warmth pulsed at her throat. Solar Light. His Light. It gave her strength every day since the very first - that hadn't changed.

Never stop. Please never stop. I love you.

She had to go deeper. She must dive into the deep, into the dark – one more time.

Her feet were her guide. Up-right-down-left. She didn't know anymore - too much black and white - then a sudden blue and a sudden red. Jolts of color that sting her eyes. A long empty fall with sharp claws that chased her down. Slain enemies from beyond the grave greeted her. They tried to melt the flesh from her bones. They were dead – they were Taken. The worm hissed as if it was a gunshot to the beginning of a sparrow race. They will not win. HE will not win.

HE will bow to HER.

Void Lightning turned them to ash, a gash on her leg nothing more than a trophy. The world went silent once more. It was open here, brighter than before. Skylar's eyes skated over the far-off horizon.

She waited.

What do you seek?

Power. The word echoed through her chest.

She knew exactly what kind of power she needed. Holding her hands out, she silently gave her Ghost a command. A rifle, heavy and worn, landed there in a flash of light. It was old, but it was a memory from so many years ago. Her first sniper - the one Cayde had handed her from Banshee's stall, telling her he thought she'd looked like she might be a good shot. He'd been right. She'd kept it in one of his stashes off world for years and once he'd died, she'd kept it with her ever since. Just a memory of when life was better – now it could be something more. Her catalyst.

"You," she said finally, "I want what is left of you, molded into a weapon of my choice."

A rumble, a growl, but this time it didn't shake the ground. The blackened wind curled around the gun from muzzle break to cheek rest.

Very well.

The wind grew thicker, stinging her fingers through gloves. Skylar didn't let herself pull away as her gun splintered and shifted and morphed into something else – something darker. Then her gun was gone, and what her hands were holding thrummed with an eerie gray glow around a monstrous black rifle. The muzzle was frozen into a snarl, the scope dressed in teeth.

She was terrified of the Hive, of the screeching and the green and the ripping talons. She was terrified – and then she was not. Crota turned to stone in her mind and shattered into ashes that danced around a twisted molten sword, half-buried in bones.

There is nothing to fear.

They would fear her.

As her fingers curled around it, she felt no fear - no deathly cold. It was strangely warm, not like the warmth at her neck, but still warm all the same. Something to help stave off a bit more of the chill on her skin.

Letting out a sigh, she relaxed her arms, shouldering the rifle onto her back. The light was so bright in this endless expanse, and she was alone with only her Ghost for company. Something like triumph floating across her soul.

And then she wasn't alone at all.

WIELD ME, AND USE ME TO TEST YOUR FOE.

This time, it wasn't from a voice around her - the purring hum nestled itself in her mind, teeth sinking deep into her victory-swamped soul. She would never be able to pry him loose, Skylar knew that instantly, so she didn't even dare to try.

But at least it was warm - not like solar Light, not at all. It was like warm water. It was warm like freshly spilt blood.

'Do whatever it takes to keep them safe Skyla.'

She would – She'd promised.

THERE IS NO FEAR.

She found she didn't mind the teeth; they were a reminder of the power in her hands. She would use it to defend all that she had left – no matter the cost.

-Skylar-

There were some things that Skylar had thought about pertaining to her relationship with Cayde, that she never told him. Never dared to voice or even think about it for long periods of time. Things that could never be, not because of lack of try or want, but because they were who they were. Still, every once in a while, one of those thoughts – painful in a way, longing in so many others, and yet fed by curiosity – would still break through and Skylar would let her mind play with it.

She could admit to herself that sometimes as she watched Cayde sleep in the early hours of the morning, she wondered what he'd looked like as a human. Not because she'd necessarily wished he were one – no, not at all, she loved and cared for him just as he was – but because, once again, the curiosity of Hunters was unstoppable. The images she came up with were always different, pieces of faces from people she'd seen before or sometimes something completely dreamed up. With all the different combinations though, there had always been one thing she was certain of.

Cayde had been blond.

She wasn't even sure why but it just fit him - maybe due to stereotypes or something of the like, but it had stuck. It seemed, as she stood in the chilly underground lab on Europa staring at a cyropod, that she'd been right. True enough that his body was covered in a very light layer of frost, meaning she could see everything clearly through the small clear square of material on the metal pod, but the light color of his hair was enough to prove her right.

Blond.

Skylar almost laughed.

The rest of his features - the color was off due to the frost - but his skin looked tanned and his hair looked shaggy. Whatever else there was, she couldn't stop staring even as she heard her friends speaking off to the side. Sterling hovered next to her - over her shoulder, watching.

"Ya okay?" he asked quietly.

That was a good question.

"I don't know."

When she'd gotten the news yesterday, Skylar hadn't been able to process it, not really. It had felt like the ground she'd tried so hard to keep sturdy had cracked open under her feet. She'd felt disconnected, her mind refusing to understand why this was happening now after two years. After she'd healed and pulled herself almost completely from the hole of despair that had been losing him. As if she hadn't had enough to deal with as it was, as if the joy and hope in her chest was enough to overcome to pure horror, the urge to run and hide and scream at the top of her lungs at what the universe had thrown at her.

"Skylar?" Elsie's voice finally pulled her gaze away and she turned to see the Exo watching her. Around her stood her fireteam, along with Ikora and Ana. Zavala hadn't come, not for this part, at least. Maybe he knew he wouldn't be welcomed by more than half of the people in the room. "Are you ready to talk?"

Raising a hand to rub it over her face, her other one moved to grab at the strap of her rifle only to find nothing. She'd had Sterling put it away for now, she remembered - she didn't need that voice in her head, not for this. Finally, she dropped both hands and turned away from the pod, joining the cluster of allies near a large computer that concealed where Ana was sitting.

"Yeah," she answered quietly, and saw Z shift a bit closer to her in a silent support system. She took in a deep breath and her eyes flicked to Ikora, to her hand where a large chip was carefully being held. "You want to tell me why you had us do some grave robbing?" Because that chip, that piece of metal and whatever else it was made of – that was Cayde. Or at least, it was what had made him Cayde.

This morning she and Ikora had gone to the Temple of Leaders, opened Cayde's coffin, opened the back of his head, and pulled out the chip. Skylar had just about gotten sick and was endlessly thankful to the Warlock for doing most of it. It felt so wrong in those moments, pulling out his brain like that. Ana looked at her, worry in her eyes - sympathy - but she still answered the question with clinical, confident words.

"We needed to see if it was still intact, which it is. As horrible as it sounds, we got lucky that there wasn't much damage to the core of his head." True enough. His face had been torn up, and the killing blow had been to the chest, but his skull hadn't been crusted. "This wouldn't work if it had been damaged at all."

"And 'this' is?" Corvan said flatly. The Hunter had been quiet, and a bit more off-putting today than normal. Everyone was taking the news differently and it was clear he wasn't taking it well. Skylar pushed away the reasons for why that might be.

"The process of taking a human mind and placing it into an Exo one is more straightforward than one might think," Elsie replied. "While the idea behind it - the work put into it - is something that would take hours to explain, the act of doing it is far simpler than one might think... Simply put, their memories - the essence of who they are - is pulled out of their brains and then rewritten into code that's stored on the mainframe. This allows a backup of sorts if DER sets in. Though I suppose we've learned that those backups weren't often used." She glanced at Haar, whose arms were firmly crossed, his posture guarded. Skylar couldn't even imagine what he was feeling right now. No, they hadn't used those memories often, if at all, had they? Clovis had decided that wiping their minds was a better choice in most cases.

Elsie had even less bedside manner than her sister did when it came to explaining something like this. Maybe she was hoping it would help soften the resulting emotional feedback the information would cause to the other Exo in the room, as well as everyone else.

"But that data has sadly degraded quite a bit over the centuries," Ana went on, "It wouldn't be wise to try and put them back into the bodies, we don't know what that might do to the mind. If we woke someone up as they were now…well… I'm not sure. They'd probably still be a functioning human being, but their memories would all be gone. In a way they'd most likely be like a freshly risen Guardian." Her explanation had Skylar realizing the answer to her own question, but Ikora beat her to it, raising her hand to look at the chip with a pensive gaze.

"Which is why you need this. You're going to reverse the process with this, aren't you?"

"Is that really possible?" Z questioned, startled.

"Yes," Elsie answered. "Between the two of us, Ana and I should be able to work out the coding and do just that." Her glowing gaze met Skylar's again. "It would be Cayde - the version of him he'd always been as an Exo - but he'd be human, and he wouldn't be a Guardian." A normal, living, breathing human. She wondered how many times Cayde had wished for that chance.

"Is that really okay, though?" Noble piped in after a moment, drawing everyone's attention. "I mean, not to be a downer but… He's dead, guys. Is it really okay to just bring him back because we can, because we want to?" He looked at Skylar, but due to the helmet on his face she couldn't see his expression. "I mean, he's always been an Exo - it's all he knows. How do you think he'd deal with this? I think maybe we shouldn't jump the gun, maybe give it a bit of thought, you know?"

As much as it hurt to admit, he was right. The part of her that was excited and happy, nearly died under those words. He didn't mean to hurt her - Noble was one of the nicest people she knew - but he also had a moral compass that never swayed. He was the only one in her team that had really hesitated to use Darkness. She should have known he'd speak up, and maybe she should be glad he did.

"There is that," Ana agreed, "You guys are the ones that have to decide whether or not it's the right thing to do. This isn't something simple, I think you should probably think things over carefully before deciding. Take a few hours, take as long as you need. He's not going anywhere."

People nodded and looked at each other before glancing at Skylar. She hadn't realized she was shaking till Z's hand landed on her shoulder. She glanced at him, saw the worried expression, and shook her head.

"I need some air," she said finally, and quickly walked through the circle of people, heading for the exit. She couldn't look any of them in the face, couldn't stop her hands from clenching at her sides as she brisky made her way up the ramp and then into the elevator. The icy plains of the planet instantly turn her breath into fog, her footsteps left clear as day in the snow. She wasn't really worried about being tracked there - none of their enemies seemed to care about this region, and that was probably a blessing. Trudging up a hill, she looked out over the empty expanse of what seemed like a neverending wasteland that was only proven false by the mountains far off in the distance.

Sighing, Skylar sat down on her cloak and pulled her knees in, resting her chin there. Her mind was buzzing again, like the day before. Her emotional status was so far up in the air she couldn't even depict it, much less act on anything. She sat there for a long time, staring at nothing - long enough that snow started to gently fall once more. Pulling her hood up, she shook her head and shifted to press her face into her knees instead.

Morality seemed like such a far-off thing these days. Her promise - her vow to keep those she loved safe and continue on in Cayde's goal of doing just that - had left it in the gray area for a very long time. For so long that she hadn't regretted any of her choices. She'd seen them as necessary and even if she wanted to throw the Whisper down a ravine occasionally, she knew that if she went back, she wouldn't change her outcome. The power was too valuable. It had been almost priceless in the face of the hive during the Scarlet Keep incident. Xol was a source of information that had helped her more times than she wanted to admit.

Her morals had been bent and bruised and beaten in order to do what she thought was right and for a long time, it hadn't bothered her.

Now she wasn't so sure, now the person whose opinion mattered most to her could very easily not be dead anymore. Zavala's word's echoed in her head, sounding more like a demon than the one that haunted her. It hurt. Traveler, did it hurt. Traveler. Why was she still falling back on something that had turned her back on her? She supposed a child could never truly hate a parent when it had been their right to do what they'd done. Skylar sighed, what a mess.

"Sky?" The deep electronic voice behind her had her starting, her head whipping up and cracking around to look over her shoulder. Haar stood over her, his massive stature oddly never imposing to her in the least. He was nearly a foot taller than she was, and she knew his stark white glowing eyes set into dark blue metal didn't help him much in Dark Ages.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, frowning. Haar hated the cold, and while his systems kept him warm and he never complained, he never seemed very relaxed in this kind of weather. He tilted his head at her, taking a step to stand next to her.

"You've been gone a while. Thought I should come check on you. Z and Corvan are at each other's throats again and Noble looked about ready to Ghost them both. Figured I'd get some fresh air and make sure you're okay." He met her gaze, unblinking. "So, are you okay?"

She was really starting to wonder when it had become normal for one of her friends to always come and talk to her like she needed guidance. She supposed she might, seeing as she was the youngest in their group by quite a lot. Noble was in the double digits, and everyone else was in the triples. Skylar wasn't even ten yet.

It felt like she'd been alive over a century.

"Does it look like I'm okay, Haar?" she grumbled. She would have thought her posture was a dead giveaway.

He grunted in reply before he raised a hand and a moment later a purple forcefield doomed over the both of them. Glancing up Skylar saw the snowflakes hit the void light and then melt and slide away, leaving the inside safe from the icy flakes. She sighed and pulled her hood back off. Wards of Dawn could last a very long time if no one was causing damage to it, and Haar's had always been rather sturdy to begin with.

"Thanks," she murmured, resting her chin back on her knees. The Exo didn't say anything, he just nodded his head and then sat down next to her, looking out over the now purple-tinted expanse. She watched him for a long moment, pressing her lips together. "I don't know what to do, "she finally admitted, "If this had happened a year ago, I wouldn't have hesitated, but now…"

"You've been able to move forward." The Exo still didn't look at her, but his voice was even - calm, like always. "You've been moving on - maybe not completely - but enough that you've accepted what happened, only for this to be thrown in your face." His jaw snapped tight for a moment, blue light flicking in his throat. "It's a lot like how I felt when Saint came back. You want to be happy and know you should be, but there's a gnawing feeling in the back of your mind that makes you wonder if it's okay to be."

Cayde had always referred to Haar as 'a wise old Exo', and she'd always agreed with him. He was rather empathetic and she always admired him for not being afraid to show that about himself.

"Yeah," she agreed. It wasn't everything, but it was a lot of it. "What if he hates us for bringing him back? What if he doesn't recognize me anymore?" What if he hates what I've become?

"What if's are an endless cycle of pain, Skylar," her friend stated, finally looking at her, "Clinging to them won't help you or him, or anyone else."

"I know, I just…" She rubbed her eyes, frustrated. "What would you want?" she said suddenly, looking back at him again. He was an Exo, after all, maybe his insight would be clearer than her own, despite how well she'd known Cayde. "If you were in Cayde's place, if you knew what was about to be done - what could be done - what would you want?" Her question had him humming, reaching up and rubbing his neck as he thought it over. She waited quietly, listening to the sound of metal on metal and not wincing – she was used to it.

"I don't think… I'd want to come back," he said finally, and Skylar flinched, surprised and pained to hear that. It wasn't what she'd been hoping for, she realized. Her insides twisted unhappily, and she tensed. Maybe he was right, maybe- "But I'm not Cayde," he went on, cutting off her thoughts. She blinked owlishly at him and he gave a small chuckle at her quickly changing expressions. "Always thinking the worst," he mused.

"Haar…"

That was the second time someone had said that to her in twenty-four hours.

"Our situations aren't much the same other than we are both Exos – or were, as it was. I've been around a long time - not as long as Corvan, mind you - but I remember the Dark Age. Doing the same things after a while – doing what we were brought back for – it starts to become something mundane and, in some ways… unbearable. At least, if you're alone, and Exos - because of what we are - weren't exactly the most trusted among humans during that time. It's the connections we made with other Guardians and normal people that really kept us going."

"Ikora told me once that it was always important to 'have someone to make you want to come back'." Skylar said quietly. For her that had been Cayde, but it had also been Z and Haar and the rest of her clan. The Exo nodded his head.

"Yeah, and I think the strength of those bonds helps determine how much we want to live. I told you once I had someone during the Dark Ages. Someone from the group of humans I helped keep safe when the City was just starting to get built. They weren't a Lightbearer though, so…" he sighed, "True happiness like what you had with Cayde is hard to come by for us."

"I still think you and Ikora…"

He shook his head in a way that had Skylar dropping the subject instantly. It wasn't really her business, but she still wanted him to be happy - wanted them both to be.

"Where are you going with this, Haar? What does this have to do with coming back as a human?" She wondered if the mind of an Exo - despite the number of resets - sometimes just disconnected. He huffed at her, narrowing his eyes.

"Doesn't it? He loved you Skylar – he was crazy about you. I wasn't sure at first about the two of you… Exo-human relations can be… hard, and the fact that he was Vanguard made it harder. I know you got cornered by other Hunters - that they tried to make you miserable because they were jealous. You always handled it just fine." He tilted his head at her surprised look. "You guys pulled through all of it, every single obstacle. You made it work. I was kind of surprised really, after you moved in with him that he didn't ask you to be his bonded."

The admission was startling and had Skylar's chest twisting painfully. She'd wondered about that too, honestly. Bonded Guardians were basically married - which wasn't super common, but it wasn't against the rules either. She'd only ever seen one such ceremony. The Guardians used their Light and melded them together in a show of connection before putting a small amount of each other's Light into a right. They couldn't use the Light, it was more just symbolic. Skylar hadn't realized till Winter had explained it that when Cayde had given her the necklace, he'd basically done part of the ceremony. That's how much he'd cared about her, even in the beginning. He'd never told her and she'd never confronted him about it. Maybe she should have.

"Despite how confident he always acted around everyone, Cayde was always a bit… worried about taking those steps. Not because he didn't want to, but I think he worried he was pushing too hard too fast. He didn't want to scare me." They had only been together two years.

"It doesn't surprise me." Her friend smirked slightly. "My point is, Sky, that in the end it doesn't matter if he felt like he'd done enough in his life – because I know he didn't. No one ever wants to leave someone they love like he did you. I think he'd even risk DER and come back as an Exo if he could – but getting to come back as a human? Why the hell would he not want that chance?"

"I guess I keep thinking maybe he found his son on the other side, I mean… what if he was real? What if I'm tearing him away from his family?"

"You're not." There was no hesitation from him, and she felt her brows pull together at that. "You were his family too," he pointed out. "I think if this had never come up and there was something after this – he'd be waiting for you."

Skylar bit her lip, looking back over the white expanse. She remembered Cayde had once told her after he'd met her that he'd nearly forgotten about his queen - that whatever traces of love he'd held onto, he might have fabricated for his own sanity, disappeared. He wasn't the man he'd been as a human, he was who he was as a Hunter. Memories wouldn't change how much he cared about her. She took a deep breath.

"How are other people feeling about it?"

Another brief moment of metal on metal as Haar scratched at something again.

"We called Shiro," he explained, surprising her. Shiro hadn't been able to come - too deep in a mission to risk doing so - and he'd been kind of upset about it, but of course he'd be included in the decision. Cayde was one of his oldest friends. "He said while he wanted his friend back, in all honesty, you had the vote that would weigh the most. Z agreed with him and so do I." That drew her eyes back to him and her friend smiled. "I mean, you loved him the most, right? It's your call. If we all voted against you then maybe it would be different, but you know most of us wouldn't."

Most of us.

Skylar could think of one or two people that might, depending on her choice.

Staring at her friend, she went over what they'd talked about again and thought about who she was - what she'd gone through. Skylar had just now finally started to move on, had put her grief behind her enough that she was moving forward without taking a step back every few feet. She missed him of course, she never took off his necklace and she still had the last bite scar he'd ever left on her shoulder. She's been moving forward and yet…

It was never an easy choice when it came to anything involving loved ones.

Sighing, Skylar finally stood, brushing snow from her cloak and legs as she looked at Haar.

"Let's get back down there."

The journey back down the elevator felt shorter somehow as her mind finally locked her choice into place. It didn't stop the feeling in her chest from wriggling with worry, but it calmed her, made her feel steadier on her feet. When they made it back to the main room, everyone looked up at their arrival. Most looked worried or curious. Both Z and Corvan read her face and knew her choice instantly - their reactions differing - and Skylar felt that feeling in her chest worsen. Moving forward, Corvan caught her arm as Haar moved to Z's side feet away.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The Hunter asked quietly, and Skylar sighed. He knew more than anyone how hard she'd tried to move on and their lives had become so interwoven... Despite what they both might claim, Skylar knew there was something there - something besides friendship - but she'd never let it in, it hadn't been about that. He'd made his intentions clear from the start, hadn't he?

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"

He stared at her; those dark blue eyes as unreadable as his blank face. His lips twitched, like he might say something and then he finally shook his head and let go of her. Skylar closed her eyes for a moment, her chest twisting at the spike of guilt.

"I'm sorry." Taking in another deep breath, she moved into the center of the room. She glanced at Ikora, who nodded her head, and then looked to the Bray sisters. "Do it."

They looked at each other and Ana smiled.

"It will take a few days to figure everything out. When we're ready, we'll let you know."

The choice made, Skylar felt herself relax a bit, the finality of it set in stone. She could only hope that when this was over, maybe the scar on her soul wouldn't pull as much as it had since he'd died.

N/A: I know, I know - a lot of people will probably be a little put off by this decision, so let me explain. I love Cayde as an Exo, I really do, and this was a very hard decision to make for me but, Cayde died. I spent a lot of time coming up with the different ways I could bring him back, from Infinite Forest ideas, to shared Light resrection, but here's the thing, that would bring him back as an Exo. To me, I feel like Exo as a whole, wouldn't want to be brought back, not as an exo again. The risk of having DER show up again or just the fact that they were at peace just to get stuffed back in a metal body... it didn't sit well with me. This is just my personal opinion of course, but it's why I chose to bring Cayde back as a human. I hope you guys can still enjoy the story :)

On another note, The Whisper part, was something I've been working on for a while. I always felt like getting the gun should have had more to it story wise. So I added to it.
Please feel free to share your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!