Chapter 124 - Monsters
[Last City, Tower, Hall of Guardians]
Returning from the Devils Lair left Yuki with much to mull over, between meeting more genuine Eliksni that weren't trying to kill her, Tekres aside, and the new Kell made her consider returning at somepoint if she had the time. The trip back was silent, but a comfortable silence between her, Ghost, and Ceres. The Titan had accepted Siva's apology to a degree, and while Ghost clearly had questions, they figured it best to leave it until now.
"These commanders, what should we expect?" Hana spoke up while walking down a straight hallway past a kiosk with a large Guardian laughing at the video recordings behind him as he communed with other like-minded Guardians. The one hogging the glory on screen was a huntress in silver-camo armour, clutching a powerful looking bow. Yuki peeled her attention away to listen to Zane who put his hands behind his head.
"You've already met Ikora, she's strict but compassionate, and she's by far the easiest to talk to for most new Guardians." He explained simply.
"Cayde is... a character," Ceres' smile curled humorously. "I'll admit, Akio gave me the impression he was Cayde's long lost brother."
"Oooh, I like this guy already," The brunette grinned with Rika rolling her eye.
"C, love ya and all, but don't put that image in our heads," Rika shivered, and even Morbin did the same, clearly not a topic they'd like.
"My second worst nightmare aside, Zavala will be the hardest to convince," Morbin said it straight. "If anyone in this place strikes you as the 'commanding' type, then it will be him."
"He does have a bit of a commanding presence, even I got nervous when I met him for the first time," Ceres inwardly cringed at her obvious inexperience back then.
"Fact remains, we need the Vanguard on our side if we want to return home," Rayla stated, but another thought plagued her, primarily concerning Yuki. "But how do we get SIVA working again? Hate to admit it, but she's a liability in close-quarters now..." Not to say she doubted the girl's fighting prowess, but SIVA made her capable of taking on the toughest of opponents, but Kovik? That was the part that worried the raven-white-haired girl.
The meeting soon began in darkness with only the light of the large table separating the various people of importance. Cayde, an Exo like Morbin was blue with blue eyes and a yellow glow behind his mouth, a horn poking out from under his hood. He seemed to just fiddle around with the black and white handcannon in his hands, inspecting the paintwork. Ikora was standing with her notes in hand, listening but gave various expressions of surprise with the way her eyes widened or a raised brow.
The last was Zavala, an Awoken, a person who in the past was exposed to the Light and the Darkness, so his skin was blue and let off this faint sheen, his eyes were a sharp blue, and carried himself with an intimidating silence, even when he spoke to the newest guests of the Tower, his words carried weight and authority, like All Might only much more serious.
"...sooo, that crazy nanotech stuff's inside her, right?" Cayde broke the awkward silence, looking around the room, then he leaned forward in Yuki's direction. "Can you actually read machine minds?"
"Cayde..." His ghost, Artemis, bonked her shell off his head.
"Cayde's antics aside, this news, while startling, would line up with your injuries from before," Ikora set her data pad down, looking troubled. "I'm having a hard time believing it, much less the capabilities of people from your world,"
"They have superpowers, what's not to love?" Cayde shrugged, clearly amused by the ordeal. "Can I just say, best damn meeting I stuck around for, if we had guys like them popping around here and there, hah..." He patted his hips, then spun to them with bright eyes. "Wanna join the Hunter Vanguard? All the wilderness and loot you can ask for."
Yuki smiled slightly, seeing Ceres facepalm lightly to one side, "I... we'll consider it," Cayde did a little 'yes', pumping his fist then Yuki faced the Titan Commander. "My quirk, SIVA, was sealed by what we learned as 'Detainment', I can still hear it but not a single nanite in my body will respond, but that's not the worst of it,"
"Explain," Ikora ushered.
Taking a breath, Yuki fixed them all a hard look. "Kovik the High Splicer Priest is still alive, and escaped to our world with SIVA to rewrite the Splicers' loss here,"
"Let's not bring it up with that Iron Lord guy, think he might blow a blood vessel," Rayla suggested with her hand raised. Taking into account the looks of surprise she added. "Took me a hot minute to come to grips with it, but it's true, hell, only reason me and Solaire and Tekres wound up in their world was thanks to a Devil Splicer,"
"Look anything like this handsome face?" For once, Cayde offered them some keen advice. Tapping his tablet to the table, a holographic projection of the cave on Venus the group arrived from displayed a new figure leaving the mouth. "After C and her merry band left, had a scout check the place out, and he snagged this little photo of a totally inconspicuous Fallen wearing red,"
"A Baron!" Yuki gaped, she remember, it was a split second before the rift threw her vision into the stars, but she remembered that Fallen, the one that shot her. He wore Devils armour, the grey plating a slate black, the symbol of SIVA painted across the arms in frantic strokes, his helmet lined with two horns that formed a crown above his head as wires fed down into the rest of its suit. Between its claws was a wire rifle, and a shock spear, the polearm caked still stained in blood. The helmet only had one large optic. Her fingers curled against the edges of the table. "He shot me through the gut..."
"Maybe he's the key to fixing SIVA? Could be our best bet," Akio diverted the conversation back. "I could track his soul essence but he could be anywhere in the system by now..."
"There's more," Yuki collected herself.
"I'm guessing it's not the good kind?" Cayde slumped.
"Kovik copied SIVA from me, and as a result, he created various augmented versions to combat us, mostly to test his newest creation," She shook her head. "I never realized why, he... did something to SIVA twisted it into something far more deadly than anything we've seen... NARA," The name alone made a deathly chill flood the room, the darkness making the news that much more impactful. "He levelled a city with one attack, created an army of counterfeit Splicers to overwhelm the whole country, I tried... but even with SIVA I couldn't beat him," She failed when it was needed most.
"And now we're here, trying to put the pieces back together," Akio shrugged to sum up their ordeal.
A moment of silence followed, the Vanguard and Fireteam Horizon mulling over the case of those beyond their world. It was alot to digest, but Morbin was the first to raise his hand slightly. "I believe them,"
"Seriously?" Zane blinked slowly, then quickly waved his hand at his new friends. "Not in a bad way, just... you're the last person I'd expect to trust them, you've been giving mini Titan Lady 'The Stare' since we met."
"Great, another one..." Yuki held in her irritation at that remark.
The Exo shrugged, crossing his arms, "I'm seeing it with the facts given, a Devil Splicer Baron is loose in the system, with an active form of nanotechnology that potentially is stronger than SIVA ~WE WILL DINE WITH CORPSES!~ I.E. That in of itself is a problem," Morbin and Krieg summed up.
"I have to agree, if Kovik is able to bridge a way to our world again, we could see a much larger-scale... NARA Crisis on our hands," Ghost perked up.
"I too am in agreement, we cannot allow this Splicer to return to our world, nor allow Yuki and her companions to remain exiled from their own," Ikora vouched for them also, "If it's a Vex gate you appeared from, then the Vex will be the first to look into."
"I can fax you the deets on that Baron while I'm at it, gotta cut off the heads of this beast before it grows," Cayde whistled, clicking his fingers to Artemis who nodded, scanning the data pad on the table.
"Really?" Yuki smiled a little more, feeling her heart fill with hope again. Maybe they wouldn't be gone for long after all?
"While I agree this matter must be dealt with, concerning the Baron seen on Venus, we will deal with this personally, and see to it that this Fallen Splicer is buried with its brethren," Zavala announced, having been the most quiet in the meeting since the introductions were given.
That hope was sunk with a hole in its hull, the water gushing in.
"What!?" Yuki's voice picked up, staring across to the Awoken who didn't even blink.
"While assisting in your return home takes priority, we cannot allow for SIVA to run rampant across Earth once more, let alone the other planets in the system," Zavala put his foot down on the matter. "The risks that came with the SIVA Crisis were dire, and even then the Cosmodrome lays in ruins because of it, for that reason, hunting down this Baron of Kovik's will-"
"That's not fair..." The bluette murmured, staring at her hands taut against the table, then, her anger boiled. "...I have to regain SIVA, it's the only way to stop NARA, I... I lost everything to Kovik, I can't go back to finishing what I started without SIVA!"
"This is not up for discussion," He affirmed. "I will not send children to fight our battles, nor allow one of Humanity's most recent monsters to return-"
"Uh, you missed the part where she and Velk literally can't die, I think," Akio prodded his thumb at Hana. Then held up his wrist to form a golden glyph. "I can do magic, pretty good at it as well, not to mention our own badass Guardian and Splicer,"
"You would deny the Archon her rightful claim to SIVA?" Tekres sneered behind his mask at the Titan. "Typical of Guardians to assume those unblessed are weak."
"Sir, I... this seems too harsh, we-" Ceres tried to reason but his hand rose to keep her from speaking further. Ceres opened her mouth again but found her voice caught when she heard Yuki stifle a noise, supressing her feelings.
"I failed them..." Yuki's voice cracked, grabbing her forehead only to hit it twice. "I couldn't do a damn thing to stop him, I lost my parents, parts of myself I'll never get back, even my own sister was stuck in a coma and lost so much of her life because of it... again and again I've failed to stop him from hurting the people around me, but they never blamed me, they trusted me with SIVA to do better... I just want this to end but now I'm God-knows how far away from them and I'm powerless to do anything!"
They watched the girl's tough facade start to chip away, she was hurting, leaving behind all her loved ones, and feeling as though everything was her fault. "I couldn't even save them from being dragged with me...!" Tears stung her eye in frustration. Akio hung his head, ashamed for failing Kyoka. Rayla rubbed her hand over her sash, recalling the one she gave Kirishima. Solaire missed chatting with the girls who would clean his shell for him without asking. Tekres felt out of place without the invisible girl or Hatsume to pester him. Hana missed her friends, her uncle, and Sero, people she could confide in. Velk did too.
|That's Enough|
"Siva-" Yuki's voice cut out, and her eye flashed a shade of ice blue, now, the tension in the room reached its climax, and the Commanders watched as the girl's distraught features twisted with malice, all directed at the Titan Commander with contempt.
"Your enemies grow stronger by the day, and here you are, cowering behind walls, beneath the Great Machine," Siva accused, pointing back at Zavala who didn't rise at the insult. "Very well, Commander, allow me to tell you something about 'Monsters',"
"Once, there was a city grander than yours, there, my kin prospered,"
A distant city could be seen underneath the Traveller, hundreds of Eliksni flooded the streets, children played, hiding among their transparent cloaks over fields of lush iridescent crops and groves of starkly coloured trees. The sky was a light pink.
"But when it's enemies came, the Great Machine forsook us,"
The city was in ruins, dark floating structures glowing a venomous green, creatures wrapped in void and starlight razing the streets with hordes of gnashing teeth and chitin as dark magic burned buildings. All watched as the Traveller drifted far away, past the looming dark triangular shadow on its surface.
"And when we pursued it, It sent Something Back..."
The Traveller's white surface gave way to three dark entities. The Eliksni cornered the armour's beasts, but not once did they appear afraid, in fact, the black brambles continued to crawl over their feet from the three creatures.
"...Creatures fuelled by hatred; they tore through our great Houses like they were nothing. And then they came for the rest of us,"
The Banners of various Houses were torn to pieces, some completely unrecognizable now, some barely hanging by threads.
"Nowhere was safe from their insatiable rage, in their eyes, even the most innocent of Eliksni were still Fallen,"
One Eliksni was held by the largest one's arms, its tail swept by its feet while the one cloaked in rags born its large claws at those that scattered, and the mummified sorcerer burned the lands. The shadow cast by the largest beast encompassing all those that fled in darkness, some drowning in its anger with hatchlings in their arms.
"They would die, but they would not stay dead. They would shake off the rot and rise again,"
The thorny brambles stretched and coiled around the Eliksni lucky enough to land a fatal blow on the dark beast that held it in its vice-like grip, white light spilled from the wounds, and yet, its grip didn't falter. Instead, the wounds closed up, and it lifted the poor warrior to be choked in the sky under the glare of the Traveller.
"And if they caught you in their burning gaze!"
The mummified sorcerer burned a group of Eliksni with its palms, tossing balls of fire down on their bodies.
"Impaled you on their ragged blades!"
The cloaked beast skewered two through the heart with its crackling claws, lightning burning away the dark to reveal the monstrous nightmare beneath the hood, a festering void with glowing eyes.
"Dragged you screaming in their foul shells! None lived to speak of these horrors... and they called themselves... 'Guardians'!"
Another Eliksni clawed at the ground in desperation, trying to free itself from the thorns and the iron-grip of the towering beast that pulled it toward the radiant dome of light that hissed from the rain.
When Siva brought his head up from his horrid memories, he saw the looks in their eyes, dread, pure, unfiltered horror at the actions led against the Eliksni, Morbin was unreadable due to his helmet, but Zane was pale as a ghost, looking ill, his right hand tightly clasped around Ceres' shaking palm, her other hand covering her mouth with eyes filled with... remorse, Siva expected no less but retained his fury and pointed it all at the lead Commander.
"My people now see these creatures everyday. They. See. Us. I tell you this to say that if both our worlds are to survive NARA's storm, we must all learn to accept our Monsters." It was brief, but with the flickering glare of the desk's holographic code, some saw the revenant of Aksis standing over the girl's body, eyes bearing down on the Guardians without a shred of fear. He let his gaze fall, turning toward the stairway near the exit to the lit hallway. "Do not insult their capabilities, these children have given their lives for something greater than themselves, and if you, or your Vanguard stand in mine and Yuki's way..."
It was then that Zavala looked into that blue-haired girl's eye and saw only the gaze of an Archon burrow back. "I swear you will pay, and I don't require SIVA to kill a few Guardians again," With his peace, and both his and Yuki's anger beyond saving, he left briskly to clear his head.
Outside in the soft night light, Yuki stared up at the Traveller by the railing, feeling the cool breeze reach her face to cool her off from that heated exchange. She understood the Vanguard's reluctance, to bring back the power your enemy used to nearly destroy you would put Yuki on edge too. Like if they found a way to bring All For One back from the dead, or heaven-forbid, Harbinger. It was a complicated matter but they had to try and find that Baron.
"He must be here to maintain the Detainment, it has to be..." Yuki had no leads other than he was on Venus a few days ago. Akio could still track his soul essence but if it led off-planet they were screwed.
I must apologize | My anger overwhelmed me | You were hurting...
She smiled fondly, rubbing her cybernetic hand gingerly. "I know you just wanted to protect me, and... it's not like your race hadn't endured so much either," Then, she found her eyes staring longingly at the Great Machine. "I wonder if you can hear us? The Eliksni as well as humanity, all of the worlds you've graced..." But the sphere didn't answer her, of course it wouldn't, but she talked anyway. "I've spent so long trying to find where I belong after losing my family, and it was all thanks to Siva that I could... maybe I'm biased but... I believe power is just a tool, it's the person who uses it who decides if it's evil or not, isn't that fair?"
"You're right-" Yuki's head swivelled left to see Ceres walk down the small steps onto the flat ground leading to the edge of the Tower. She wore that same, soft smile while looking up at the Traveller. "-the Light is just a tool, the Traveller gifting our ghosts and ourselves with its power, but, it wasn't as benevolent as everyone believes it to be, Riis is a good example of that,"
|She knows my homeworld's name?|
"How do you..." Yuki followed her finger back to where Zane stood a good distance away, waving goofily back like a certain green-haired fanboy she knew.
"Zane's learned more than I could ever have imagined, how big the system and beyond is, and with every battle, I've learned things aren't black and white, it's all shades in-between," Ceres continued, standing next to Yuki with her hands on the railing. "There's so much we don't know, and there is bound to be enemies bigger than Aksis someday, but I'll use my Light to see what's beyond that horizon someday,"
"Fireteam Horizon... heh, I get it," Yuki's lips curled upward slightly, Ceres giggling too.
"Heat of the moment but it stuck," She replied, nudging Ghost. "Right?"
"Our team's a mess but I wouldn't change it for the world," Ghost replied astutely but deep down he was all sunshine like his Guardian.
Despite the warmer topic, Yuki lowered her head, scratching at the place her mask would normally sit, she needed a replacement or something. "Sorry... for all of that I... I'm just worried because I don't know where to start, or maybe I'm just annoyed that I'm powerless again," She raised a finger. "That's not an excuse for my outburst, but... I thought you'd should know."
*Thwack!*
"Ow!" Yuki's head spun as the hand that felt like a steel bat retracted, belonging to Morbin. "What's your malfunc-"
"The Vanguard has agreed to aiding in your cause, with both a way home, and the Baron," He stated, moving to lean against the railing with a huff.
"What...?" Yuki was confused, very confused, and a little fatigued.
Ceres smiled again, "After a little prodding and some cleaver wordplay on your friend's, Akio, part, Zavala made it our mission to aid you guys in this situation, so from now on, you're our top priority," She offered her hand out to Yuki. "I hope you don't mind?"
"I..." She looked back at Zane, seeing the hunter showing off a trick with his Light similar to Rayla where he summoned a guitar out of thin air made of Light, Rayla laughed, and did the same only with a trumpet this time, dancing away with Velk giggling next to Hana who, while monotone, her eye was filled with mirth next to Akio who added his own flair with magic. "...thank you... so much," She bowed to them both, with Morbin nodding once and Ceres feeling the girl's hand shake her own. "I look forward to working with you six."
"Oh, speaking of which!" Akio pushed through the Guardians to show them all something, fishing around in his coat. "I actually already have a solution to one of our problems,"
That drew them in, and in the light of the Tower's spotlights, some stared with perplexed expressions, but Yuki and Hana gasped, same for Velk when her tail swept excitedly. "I-Is that!?/You still have one?/Where did you get this!?" The girls exclaimed.
Between his fingers, Akio smirked as he held up a silver coin with a blue gemstone wedged into the middle.
"Hey, so what is this thing anyhow?" Akio stopped mulling over his notebook filled with the various spells he had aquired from Viral to address the curious and perplexed younger sibling of Yuki. When he saw Nana holding up the coin his eyes widened slowly.
"Hooooooooow?" He drawled, picking the coin off her.
"That guy from the library gave it to me, Chaser or something, said I could use it if, uh... something about getting lost in another world? I dunno," Nana shrugged sheepishly. "Welp! I thought since you're the magic expert you could hold onto it!"
"But, this is a-" She tapped his lips with her fingers.
"Nah, sure, pretty cool to jump to another world, but if it only last a short time I'm screwed, hehehe, so keep it, maybe until I find another," She gave a fanged grin and Akio sighed, closing his hand around the relic with a smile.
"Sure, I'll keep it safe."
"A-A Gatestone, we... we can go back!" Velk's eyes curved upward, her toothy smile splitting with her gasp.
"Yeah, so now all that we need is to get SIVA back up to a hundred percent!" Akio proclaimed, flicking the coin into the air to catch it on the back of his palm. "We lost to Kovik the moment we underestimated him, and people paid that price, so, when we decide to go back, let's show him what we're made of!" He closed his fist out to Yuki, seeing her wipe away a few tears.
"Yeah... together, let's save our home and this one!" She agreed, bumping his fist as Velk and Hana added their own.
"We'll be right behind you/No matter what stands in our way," Hana and Velk chimed as one.
"I too will follow your lead, Archon," Tekres appeared, startling Zane as he added his fist to the middle. "What a strange custom..."
"Dren got me and four eyes wrapped up in this mess, we'll see this through, right, Solaire?" Rayla tapped a fist in also as her flaming ghost bobbed above the fists.
"You have my Light, Guardians." He whirled.
The last three fists joined the circle. "Looks like we're wrapped up in another crazy adventure," Zane laughed with a buzz of excitement in his eyes.
"And here I thought this day would be relaxing..." Morbin grunted, but refused to move his fist, cocking his head to one side. "Not that our leader would sit idly by."
"Ready to save the world again, Ceres?" Zane's smile made Ceres' heart flutter, her fist between his and Yuki's metal fist.
"Okay, together, eyes up, Guardians!"
"RIGHT!"
To Be Continued...
Will this be as long as the first half? I write this wondering what's going through my head constantly, I've got really a chapter for each character. Yuki, Akio, Hana/Velk, maybe Rayla/Tekres though I'm not sure, won't say what the importance is, spoilers and all that. But, with a Gatestone teased back in Nana's first solo chapter, all that's left is a slippery Baron. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Guardians!
Next Chapter Intermission: Way of the Pathfinder
"Huh? The hell's this joint?" A new face appeared in a backdrop of the Tower. Her long, silky white hair was brushed from her ocean-blue eyes, staring around at the weird version of the Tower. "Hey, Ray, got any clue where we are?"
In a flash, a ghost with a silver and gold shell appeared, hovering close to her shoulder. "I-I don't know... th-there's a camera, see?" His eye flickered at the camera, the girl making a sound of suspicious curiosity. "A-and a note, like a-a script?"
"Right, yeah..." She took the note, muttering to herself. "Okay, blah-blah-blah, chapter concerns me and Ray, stuff about 'Wish Ender', yadda-yadda-yadda... ah, right, got it," She tossed the page aside, pointing at the lens with a dull stare. "Listen up, Way of the Pathfinder is next, better tune in, got it?"
"Y-you could be nicer..." Ray murmured. "O-oh, my part - Continue on!"
The girl smirked, "Toward the Light - okay, where's the damn exit to this place...?" She wandered off again.