… I plead Tears of the Kingdom for this taking so long to make. I'm sorry, okay?! The game is really good!

And Thanks to gajeel-of-iron for not only beta-reading this story but for being my very first Beta Reader!

"Oh, thank goodness it worked! You're really alive! I'm actually quite surprised that I'm the one who got you of all people. Hm? What's that? You don't understand? Oh, well I should probably take it from the top then.

I'm a ghost. Well, now I'm your ghost. And you… well, you're kind of important. It all started long ago… when the Traveler came to the Sol system.

It presented the native species, humanity, with many incredible gifts. Terraforming planets, bestowing knowledge that propelled humanity centuries into advancement. It truly was the golden age of their people.

But then, the darkness came, and the collapse occurred. Nigh total destruction occurred to the human civilization. Colonies were erased. Billions died. Knowledge lost to the void for all eternity. Humanity was all but facing utter extinction.

But in its final breath, the Traveler gave us one last gift. Me. Well, not exactly me, but my kind. The ghosts. Our single job was to go out and find worthy candidates to bestow the Traveler's light to. That's how I brought you back, by the way.

After that, things were… a little touch-and-go for a little bit. The first lightbearers had little idea about what they were supposed to do with their newfound powers and used it to, well, subjugate the survivors of the collapse to do their bidding. But! This didn't last forever! Good-hearted light bearers came together under the banner of 'The Iron Lords' and put a stop to the warlords. They were great heroes that gave hope to the masses.

There's, uh, only one left now from those times. Best not to talk about it.

But over time, more and more lightbearers came together to protect the remnants of humanity from the leftover invades of darkness. The Eliksni, alien pirate-like scavengers who were visited by the Traveler once before. The Hive, parasitic beings with dark magic that are believed to serve the darkness directly. The Cabal, a militaristic legion of conquerors. And the Vex, a group of time-travelling super robots. Best not to worry about them.

But the newly named 'Guardians' knew that their current situation wasn't sustainable, and so they began to build a great city…

Or maybe the city came first, and then the guardians? I'm a little fuzzy on the details, just know that there was a city and that the lightbearers called themselves guardians.

What? You've already heard this story? Oh, well then, I guess you can tell me what happens then, huh?

…

Mm-hmm.

…

Mm-hmm.

…

Yeah, not really. This story is a little different than that, and it all starts with the battle of Six Fronts…"

Fallen Rose

Zavala fired a burst of his rifle, the muzzle flashes illuminating what the burning buildings around him did not. The bullets found purchase in the head of yet another Fallen raider that was running rampant in the yet-finished city. The pop and hiss of the alien's ether supply gave Zavala a satisfying indication of the Fallen warrior's definitive demise. Zavala would have paused to wipe the building sweat off his brow, but he had little time to think, let alone pause.

This battle was the first real test of not only their growing city, but also of the Titan Guardians themselves. They had never fought a battle like this before, neither on this scale nor intensity. But the Titans would hold strong, and with the help of their fellow hunters and warlocks, they would not falter. Because falter meant defeat, and defeat meant extinction.

"Hold strong!" Zavala's commanding Titan called over their comm channel. "These Fallen filth haven't given up yet, and they don't seem to be weakening any time soon, either!"

Meanwhile, Zavala had thrown a Fallen into a wall and proceeded to beat its head in with the butt of a rifle.

"Sir! This is Titan Zac reporting in!" another of Zavala's titan comrades asked hurriedly over the channel.

"Speak, titan." The commander answered.

"I just saw a pack of Fallen down in the streets from my vantage point. From what I could see, they had stopped completely!"

"Did you see anything else, Titan?! Were they setting up a weapon of some sort?!"

"I don't know sir; all I could see was a group of fallen being addressed by someone! I've had to disengage from my position, so I no longer have a visual. Last sighting in the northeastern wall, third quadrant."

"Sir, this is Titan Zavala! I can investigate!" Zavala offered. Placing the last bullet of his magazine into a dying Fallen, Zavala swiftly exchanged his empty mag for a fresh one.

"Affirmative, Titan Zavala. Find out what they're up to." His commander confirmed. And so, without a moment's delay, Zavala began jogging in his heavy armor towards the reported position. Along the way, he did not hesitate to relentlessly open fire against any Fallen scum he came across. Only one Fallen managed to get the drop on him, leaping off a far above the rooftop, but even that one was handled by a cracking gunshot of a familiar revolving hand cannon.

"Hey there 'Vala. Need some help?" The Hunter and his fireteam member, Cayde-6, asked. The glow of synthetic yellow light flashed behind his metallic mouth as the exo spoke the words in a casual tone.

"Thank you, Cayde." Zavala responded, with an unwaveringly straight face and seriousness to match. Not waiting for anything else, be it more enemies or snippy remarks from Cayde, Zavala continued storming down the streets. The only difference now was that Cayde was following him without even needing to be asked, an understanding they had cultivated from their time together on a fireteam. Together they rounded the last series of labyrinth-like corners to where the anomaly was reported.

Unlike what they were expecting, there were no Fallen to be seen, alive at least. No weapon being set up. No rendezvous to consolidate strength mid-raid. Only three Fallen corpses, one in different-coloured garbs. But despite the anticlimactic reveal of the mysterious location, neither Zavala nor Cayde was ready to see one, small, barely different factor that they saw before them.

A ghost, hovering in the air, and scanning around the bodies.

"Ghost! What are you doing? Get out of here, it's not safe!" Zavala ordered the Ghost. He knew both just how fragile and important ghosts were. A bound ghost could hide in their guardian's 'backpack' for an indefinite amount of time, protecting themselves from danger until such a time had passed. An unbound ghost held no such safety, having no guardian to yet hide with. And ghosts created new guardians to help bolster their ranks, so it was especially scary to have one poking around for their chosen amidst an active warzone. If a ghost died, that was it. There was no reviving a ghost. And if their guardian was dead also, that meant one less fighter who could never come back.

The ghost, impassive and awestruck, turned to face its 'eye' at Zavala.

"She's the one…" It said in a feminine voice, mystified at its revelation.

"The one? The one what?" Zavala asked. His attention had not completely focused on the ghost and its rambling, still keeping a trained eye on his and Cayde's surroundings.

"I mean, I really can't believe it. I know that the Traveler visited them before but… still."

"Ghost! What are you talking about?! Get out of here!" Zavala demanded.

"Hoo boy, you guys had better hope she's friendly because I really do not want to die."

The ghost's shell moved away from its body, rotating around its core as it surrounded itself in a translucent sphere of blue light. It grew brighter and brighter until it became blinding. But then it suddenly inverted in colour, and a darkness that somehow seemed just as bright engulfed Zavala and Cayde. But when it finally abated, a new horrifying sight awaited the two teammates.

"What the hell…" Cayde breathed as he saw the fallen vandal in the different colours stand up. The alien staggered a few steps as it tried to catch its balance, its brand-new ghost now floating in front of it. Only… it no longer felt like a ghost. Something had changed within it, its light was not the only thing swirling in the little machine.

Finally catching themselves, the vandal looked up at the two guardians staring across the courtyard from them.

"W…" they made to speak but immediately devolved into hacking coughs. The coughing was so violent that the fallen doubled over, having to brace themself on the tiled floor. Clawing at their face, they felt around until they felt the seam between the filtering mask and the skin around their prehensile jaws. Without hesitation or a moment's notice, they tore away the device that was thought to be vital to a fallen's survival. They required ether to survive just as much as a regular human needed something like water.

But there they were, standing there as their four glowing blue eyes frantically evaluated their surroundings. Their ether mask discarded and now panting heavily through their spiky-toothed maw.

"Wh-what's going on?" The Fallen asked in perfectly good English, if not sounding slightly chitter-y in their alien throat. Their posture was crouched, clearly ready to make a break for it at a moment's notice, timid and frightful having just been revived for the first time. Revived in a warzone of all things.

"Okay." Cayde finally broke the tension in his typically subtle way. Which was to say, like a brick. "I was not expecting that to happen today."

"Who are you?!" The Vandal demanded. Then they paused as something seemed to hit them. "Who am I..?!" they looked down at themselves, twisting their body and flexing all six of their appendages. "WHAT AM I?!"

Zavala and Cayde stood there completely and absolutely befuddled. Neither knew how to react to this event. It was clear that the complete memory loss that affected all risen also affected this fallen, but it went the distance and then some for them. It rendered the new lightbearer completely void of any knowledge about what species they even were. And that wasn't even touching on the fact that a long-time enemy of humanity was brought back, by what was basically their god, to be a protector of them.

That was, if, they were to be a protector of humanity. The bygone warlords were shining examples of that idea being left to the wayside.

"Please, just tell me what's going on…" the vandal sobbed. Actually sobbed. Nobody had ever heard a fallen make that type of sound before, typically war cries and gurgled sounds of death were the normal. It didn't help that the vandal was also hugging themselves with all four of their arms. Their three-digit fingers all tightly gripping a different arm.

"Hey, hey, take it easy. Everything's going to be all right." Cayde comforted as he approached. His movement was swiftly cut short by Zavala, however.

"Cayde! What. Are. You. Doing?!" Zavala hissed.

"Uh, what does it look like, big guy? I'm trying to make this all a little easier for them."

"That is a fallen! Our enemy!"

"Now, see, this. This is why I'm glad I've got robot eyes, they're far more reliable than your organic ones." Cayde tapped the side of Zavala's head, who quickly swatted away the offending hand. "Because what I clearly saw was a guardian getting back on their feet for the first time."

"That doesn't change what they are," Zavala said firmly.

"I would beg to differ." Cayde disagreed.

Without another moment or skip of the beat, Cayde strode over to the new, and first, fallen guardian before Zavala could stop him. It wasn't like he got the chance to, either because his titan commander chose exactly that moment to radio Zavala for a report. With his hard-ass teammate distracted, Cayde finally took the time to interact with the newbie.

"Hey there, I'm Cayde. How ya holding up?" Cayde asked.

The vandal shook their head. "I… I don't know…"

Now closer, Cayde could more clearly hear the vandal, whose voice was sounding lighter and more feminine. Female Eliksni were not unheard of, Eramiskel the Shipstealer being a notably infamous one, but they were more known to be pilots rather than front-line battlers. At least, from the knowledge that the remnants of humanity had, they couldn't really tell the difference between the two fallen genders on the battlefield.

"Well, hey, I'll try and explain this the best I can. So, from the top; you died."

"What!?"

"And then you were brought back to life by a magic space god. They're right over there."

"Whaaaaaaaa?" The Vandal slowly turned to look where Cayde was pointing, and directly towards the Traveler overhead.

"Now, I'm like you, a guardian. We're really cool, protecting humanity and using space magic and all that. And right now, we're fighting some invaders coming to destroy this city we're building. Total dick move, I know. Now, this is the hard part, buuuuuuuuuut…"

"But what?"

"Your species are kind of the ones attacking us." Cayde finally blurted out. This led the Vandal to look down and away from Cayde, leaving the hunter to rapidly stew in his own thoughts about her response for a couple of moments.

"Why?" She finally asked.

Cayde let out a silent sigh of relief he neither knew he was holding nor why he was holding it. "You know, to be totally honest I've got no idea. Probably has something to do with how they're cutthroat scavs and think. Or maybe it's because their god left them and now chose us, so they could probably still be butt hurt about that."

This left the vandal to return to silence, one that deeply worried Cayde since he had no idea what they were thinking. He was practiced in reading human faces, not Fallen! So, the expression that she was making right now Cayde had no example he could equate it to, and therefore, no way of knowing their inner thoughts.

Almost before Cayde even begin to react, the vandal's right arms shot out towards a nearby dead guardian's body. One that held a shotgun. Blurting out a curse, Cayde began raising his hand cannon, pulling back the hammer as he did so. But the vandal had already cocked the weapon and had it pointed to the almost point-blank Cayde.

'Well, I was killed in a surprise attack. I always knew that'd be the only way I could have died.' Cayde thought, knowing that his ghost, Sundance, would be next after he fell. But the blast from the shotgun as it was discharged never met any part of Cayde, and instead hit the translucent and barely visible stealth vandal that had been creeping up, unbeknownst to either Cayde or Zavala. The crack of the gun, splat of the fallen's head, and the pop and hiss of its ether escaping alerted the aforementioned titan away from his conversation with the titan commander.

Pushing herself up, the more friendly and alive vandal cocked the shotgun again and looked towards the stunned Cayde.

"I don't know why, and this may sound weird, but something deep within me says that I should help you fight…" she morosely nodded to the fresh corpse, "Them."

"Well then nice to meet you… uh… Guardian?" Cayde offered.

The vandal turned away for a moment, obviously in her own thoughts again. They barely were like this for a second or two before they looked down at the shotgun that was in their grasp and studied it. A few more moments passed before she looked up again.

"Angela. Call me, Angela."

Fallen Rose

"And that's how the first and only Templar Vanguard came to be. In the battle of Six Fronts, she proved herself to be an ally to humanity and the Last City. and a powerful one at that. She wielded both the light and the darkness, something at the time that was both unheard of and frightening. But her control and proficiency garnered respect from her fellow comrades, but not the city she was now fighting for. There were cries from the citizens to rid the 'monster' from their city. To destroy her ghost-turned-phantom and throw her off the tower's walls and out where she belonged in the wilderness.

But Angela would not be so easily deterred from the new life she was given and the path she had chosen. She participated in the Great Ahamkara Hunt, adorning one of her pauldrons with the bones of one of the dead beasts. She held back the forces of Crota to allow more guardians to safely escape the moon with their lives and their ghosts.

She served as the voice to the Templars, which were now two strong after the ex-hunter Eris Morn became one during her time in the hive's moon tunnels.

But one of her greatest achievements was during the Battle of the Twilight Gap. There, she carved swaths through the fallen forces, fueled by a burning hatred for the jealous and greedy remnants of her species. She called down the heavens themselves, burnt the fallen with hellfire, cast them into immutable pieces of nothingness and locked them in frozen prisons for all eternity. And then she made a declaration to what few fallen that could barely escape her unholy wrath; That she would hunt down the houses one by one, member by member until there were no more fallen left. And that the only way for the Eliksni to survive was to no longer be the Fallen.

This led to many fallen numbers began to rally behind Angela, and the House of Crosses was formed with Angela to be their Kell. And so the last city began to gain a powerful force, and the Eliksnigained a beacon of hope that many did not believe could exist.

But much time passed, and a sense of relative peace fell over the last city. They still had to fight for their survival, battle for their safety and hold to the last man to safeguard what was left. But there were no threats big enough to pose such a threat like the ones in the past. Heck, Angela and Cayde even got married! Now that was a day to remember.

But it couldn't stay this peaceful forever. The Darkness was gradually returning, and the enemies of the Last City were slowly but surely becoming stronger. However, there is always a light in even the darkest of places, and the light that found its way back to the ranks of the Guardians from the remnants of the Russian cosmodrome was a small little hunter named…

Summer Rose

She (and her ghost Zac) began her journey to becoming a legend by preemptively stopping an assault from the Hive forces. But the Hive had already begun a ritual to steal light from the Traveler. Summer fought her way back into the thick of the Hive's forces and stopped the ritual, preventing any more loss of light.

By now Summer had also met other guardians, such as her Vanguard Cayde-6 as well as the now-named Angela Six. The latter was so enamored by the little hunter, that after spending much time and missions with Summer, Angela declared herself Summer's new mother. Nobody was brave enough to contest this, least of all Cayde.

But Summer also met people that would become some of her best friends and fireteam members. There was Serpent-11, an Exo Warlock who became something of an unintentional big sister figure to Summer. Serpent taught the new light the ins and outs of being a guardian, how to improve her armaments, where it was best to spend her time protecting humanity, and of course, where to get the best loot. However, their close bond never stopped Summer from annoying Serpent a little too much and causing the Tower courtyard from having to be repaired due to void damage.

Next there was the Awoken Titan, Kurux Jani. He was the anchor to Summer and their team. He always knew how best to… reign in Summer's outgoing nature. Kurux could always sense when Summer was about to do something less than reasonable, and more often than not, was the one to stop it. This led to many jokes made by fellow guardians about how it was the main reason that Kurux was put on a fireteam with Summer. But that wasn't the only reason the two spent so much time together. Because Kurux also became an emotional anchor to Summer as well. He was always there to listen to whatever Summer had to say, whether it be inane ramblings about whatever Summer was fixated on that day, or whether it was something far deeper and emotional.

And finally, there was Ikaldys. If Serpent was Summers' older sister, then Ikaldys was her twin. An Eliksni Templar, one of the only five in her class among the likes of Angela and Eris, Ikaldys was just as much a bundle of excited energy as Summer was, if not more charming and sassier. The two found an unusual kinship in one another, for despite being worlds apart in how they looked and where they came from, they seemed to always understand one another. What they needed, what they felt, it was all understood by the other and whenever it wasn't only a quick explanation was needed to make it so. However, this bond proved just as infuriating to others as it did useful. Since both guardians were so high-energy and chaotic, their disruptive natures were multiplied when they were put together.

And so, their journeys continued together. As Fireteam Rumbler, they delved into the Black Garden and killed the Black Heart. This stopped the poisoning of the Traveler and allowed it to finally begin healing again. With their work done, Summer, Serpent, Kurux and Ikaldys took a well-deserved break to enjoy the festivities being held for the Traveler's recovery. They may have ended their first mission together, but their journey was far from done.

From delving into the Vault of Glass, to killing the Hive god-prince Crota. They hunted down the infamous Kell of Wolves Skolas, and assaulted the great Hive dreadnaught itself, which resulted in them killing the hive god and Taken King Oryx. They were even knighted as Iron Lord and Ladies by the final Iron lord themself after they had quelled the rampart nanomachines called SIVA.

But despite all of that, it was what these four friends would face next that would be their greatest adventure yet…"

I called it 'Take 2' because of the Taken …get it?

Forewarning: Outside of darkness powers I will be adhering to the current Destiny 2 class abilities. So that means Dawnblade, Arcstrider, ect…

If you see a mistake or a sentence that doesn't seem to make sense, let me know so I can fix it!

Okay, now time for the next chapter.