The drills seemed twice as hard over the next few days, and Maria prayed that a curse would befall Osiris before she was done with the day. "There's no way that bastard spoke to him." Maria barely could get out the words. "Please tell me you were at least able to scan the books in Ikora's library."

"Locked." He said matter-of-fact. Maria imagined the ghost would be shrugging…if he were humanoid.

"Damn." Maria gulped down the rest of her water.

"Alright, five more rounds!" Shaxx yelled, pointing at the dummies Hawthorne had helped her set up to practice with."

"Five more minutes, Shaxx, I just ran around the entire field!"

"And you'll earn five more laps if you don't get up in the next five minutes and start shooting." He was too enthusiastic about it.

Ghost's light blue eye somehow seemed far away, and then he appeared to blink. "Actually, Shaxx, Ikora would like to see Maria for a little while."

Shaxx nodded. "Fine, off with you then."

"Yes!" Maria scrambled to her feet. "I mean, too bad. Well, see you tomorrow." She hurried off before Shaxx could somehow come up with a plan to help her stay a little longer. The track wasn't too far off from the tower, and the bumpy elevator ride seemed less intimidating than the first time she had ridden it a year ago. She was glad she wasn't moving, finally. "Do you know what Ikora wants?"

"No, but it sounded urgent."

Maria nodded and hopped off before anyone could get on, and made her way to the Bazaar, where Ikora held a big book in her hand and Saint stood by her. When Maria approached she closed the book and set it on her desk. "Good, now that you're both here…I have some news…about Osiris-"

"Is he okay?" Saint's deep voice always reminded Maria of a Russian or a German accent, it was harsh and deep in the throat.

"Yes, yes, he's fine but…" Ikora sighed, "Sagira is dead."

Maria covered her mouth with both of her hands. "Sagira?" She looked at Ghost and back at Ikora, "H-how?"

"Osiris went to investigate an object." Her voice became stern, "I believe he actually took you to see one of these objects. They're called Cryptoliths, belonging to Xivu Arath. I'm unsure what the purpose is to send these but according to Osiris's report, Sagira died saving him. I'm hoping a friendly face," she smiled at Saint, "will ease his sorrow." She turned her attention to Maria. "And you, I'd like you to start working more closely with Amanda Holiday. Maybe that will keep you out of my books."

Maria sighed and Saint laughed, giving her a great slap on the back that nearly sent her flying into Ikora. "Hey, careful with that hand. Come on, let's get to the hangar." She turned on her heels and practically skipped to the hangar. Ghost never leaving her side. Soon she turned, waiting for Saint to follow, but he and Ikora were whispering something before he left her side. "What was that all about?" Maria walked with him, taking twice as many steps as he did to keep up.

He laughed again. "Ikora just noted how Ghost never leaves your side and I joked that maybe you are meant to be a Guardian after all."

Maria laughed and shook her head. "I'm just keeping him company is all, right, Ghost?"

"One might argue that I'm keeping you company. And it wasn't exactly my idea. You forced me to follow you."

"So dramatic. I only grabbed you and refused to let you go." She laughed again.

"Exactly," Ghost huffed. "Even Osiris told you to leave me be."

"And you'd be nothing but pieces if I did, Ghost." She skipped down the steps of the hangar. Saint immediately began to look for Osiris' ship. Soon she saw the golden glint of his ship's wing. "There." She pointed as the air lock began to open. Saint ran to meet him, and there was excitement to his greeting, open arms, and Maria hesitated to go. Saint should be the first thing he gets to see for just a minute longer, she thought sweetly, smiling. The pair had always reminded her of her parents, so loving and accepting and yet so private at the same time and in the same breath.

Osiris only looked at Saint for a moment, but then turned away and began walking down the hanger. Maria's smile faded quickly. "Osiris!" Saint shouted to him.

Maria caught his arm, made him turn to look at her, but in his eyes, she couldn't see the sadness she expected to see, even if his body made all the appearance of being sad and angry. His shoulders were slumped, he was hunched, there was a fire in his eyes, but the longer and deeper she looked the more she questioned what she saw. "Osiris?" She whispered.

"I'm fine." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, nearly to the point of hurting.

"No, you're not fine." Maria continued to whisper, as if it were some secret between them, until Saint caught up, putting his hand on Osiris' shoulder. The two began to walk off.

"Damn that hurt." Maria massaged her shoulder while Ghost scanned it.

"Just…bruised…" Ghost and Maria watched even after they were long gone, and his whole body shook. "I…I don't understand."

"I guess Osiris grieves about as well as I do." She muttered. She remembered still the first day they met. The first person she had seen was Osiris. His voice pulled her back to a light she didn't know she had been reaching for.

"Where am I?" She had demanded of him when she realized she didn't remember how she had gotten there.

"Mercury," he had said it as if she should've known that Mercury was habitable.

"That's impossible! Mercury isn't even in the habitable zone! Earth and Mars are the only planets that are well within the limits!" She continued to spew facts about the first four planets, yelling that Osiris must've been lying. It was Sagira that had calmed her down, and Sagira that had gently told her the truth.

"It appears she got trapped in a Vex machine somehow."

She still didn't remember how or when. She didn't have her backpack, but she remembered being at university, studying in the library. She had only her pajama pants and a sports bra and a red jacket and socks, indicating she had been in her apartment during the moments she disappeared. Osiris, thankfully, found some armor for her to help protect her from the harsh environment.

"Hey, space-cadet!"

Amanda's voice made Maria jump and turn. "Ah, sorry! I forgot." She half lied and ran over to Amanda, who promptly gave her as much to do in the day as she could.

Ghost couldn't understand the mourning he had seen so many people go through, both Lightless and Lightbearers. Maria seemed to have a different air about her after her bruised shoulder. Another scan revealed why she was still in pain.

"The bruising won't surface but it will be sore for a little while," he reassured her…or he thought he was reassuring her as she cleared a wall full of shelves and things that Osiris had brought to her as gifts. "Why would he bring you gifts?" He had asked her once as she placed on the shelf the first thing he had given her-a Hive book that Eris Morn had translated.

"I dunno. To be nice? Maybe he feels sorry for me." She had answered with the goofiest grin. Now that grin was gone, replaced by a different kind of fire. She began to write things on small notecards and taping them up to the wall.

"What are you doing?" He asked her suspiciously, a little worried that she had gone insane.

"Something isn't right about Osiris. He's never squeezed my shoulder to the point of being bruised even when I pissed him off," she began to flip through five of her books, nearly at once as she had them scattered around her.

"And you think the hive…?"

"I don't know, honestly, Ghost." She sighed, and it seemed whatever hysteria she had been in was gone. "I've gone insane, haven't I?"

Ghost nodded. "Yup, it's official. You have no brain cells left."

Maria laughed and pushed him away playfully, and sighed. "I don't know, Ghost, I just…you didn't see the look in his eyes. I'm not sure what it was I saw…but I don't feel like I saw Osiris."

"He's mourning, Maria. Who knows how long he and Sagira have been together. Could you imagine, if you and I had been together for as long as they have, and you lost me?"

She laughed again, "Okay, first of all, you and I can barely get along well for a year, let alone…god, a hundred years, lets say? One of us would definitely kill the other." She shook her head, laughing, but slowly her laughter died down. "But…I see what you mean. I guess I'd be pissed too…and from the stories I've heard, he becomes obsessed easily, almost more than Eris Morn." She ran her hand through her snow-white hair and nodded. "Okay…I won't think about it too much for now…but I did read from Ikora's dossier that Savathun went missing from her court recently. Surely I can find an answer to where she went."

Ghost didn't know whether to laugh or groan. "Can't you learn about the Fallen for a while? Take a break from all this Hive nonsense."

She waved her hand at him. "Come on, I'm sure Amanda will ride us as hard as Shaxx."

"Us?"

"Fine, me!" She jogged out the door, nearly forgetting to lock it.