"Isn't it strange that she would just let us walk on in?" Ghost muttered aloud as she walked well behind Fae and Argonaut.
She didn't answer. Soon she split from Fae and Argonaut and in a way, she felt lighter, like a weight had been taken off of her.
"There's too much ground to cover!" Fae had objected to her original idea and began to draw a map in the sand when they were back on Mars. "Arizona you should take this rout. You should be able to cover yourself…right?"
"Yeah…sure, okay."
The throne world was beautiful! Light was everywhere. The sky's 'sun' was black, and she suspected the brightest rays of light pointed to something important to Savathun, including her darkly beautiful palace. It was white with a marble-like texture with shallow pools of water, red vines with blood red flowers grew, and brightly green hedges filled with the same red and pink flowers blossomed. Red lilies floated in the water, with cabbage-like leaves that were bigger than even the biggest Titan's torso, and the green and black sky was almost forgotten.
She came across an area with a gate and a stone pad in the middle of a shallow pool. She shook the gate, but nothing happened. "Locked," she muttered.
"Not to mention that isn't even a way inside."
"Can you blame me for being curious about what she created out there?" She pointed beyond the gate and sighed. "What did she want to keep out there? Why isn't her whole throne world a beautiful palace like this? These are questions scholars ask."
"They might be questions an insane warlock asks."
An unknown voice came from Ghost, "Hey, you aren't supposed to be here! Guardians aren't safe in a place like this!"
Arizona looked at Ghost, who seemed just as confused as she was. "Who is this?" he demanded.
"Well, that's need to know, pal, and you don't. Need to know, I mean. L-Look just get out before Savathun and her light goons realize you're here."
"Are you with the Vanguard?" Ghost asked, and Arizona raised an eyebrow.
"If he was with the Vanguard, don't you think he'd give us a name, Ghost?"
"I lost him anyway, but the signal is coming from beyond that gate there." Ghost sighed. "We'll have to figure out how to lower it."
Arizona grinned and pointed at the pad. "We stand on that. I'd bet glimmer on it." She too eagerly jumped to the pad and landed gracefully. The gate opened slowly, and Arizona ran over, grabbing Ghost with both of her hands as she did. She slid past the gate as it came back down, closing them out. She grinned at him. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that but…" she shrugged and released him. "Now where's that signal?"
"Just ahead." Ghost led the way. Outside of the palace was a marshland. It was wet with trees growing every which way, and a wet road that led in and out. The sky was still green and black, but it had every other indication of being a planet. Red vines with red flowers still grew here, and red flowers grew in a shallow pool below them.
There was a cave near the palace that sat on a slight hill, and on the edge of the hill was a fallen Hive Knight laying with its shield just below it, reaching as if he were going to use it before his death. Arizona poked it with the barrel of her shotgun. "It's dead," Ghost said.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't poke at him!" From the cave behind them a green-eyed ghost shot out. Without thinking about it, Arizona snatched him as he floated past her, but even as she started to squeeze, she noticed the shell was tougher than it seemed. "No, no, no, wait, wait, I'm on your side!"
"How do we know that?" Ghost eyed him suspiciously.
"Well, just look behind me, why don't ya? That's my Risen."
"Then why wouldn't I kill you now? What's stopping you from reviving him?" Arizona demanded and started to squeeze again. She wouldn't feel remorse. He was no better than a Hive creature. She would, however, always wonder if Ghost would be fine with it, and she'd always feel remorse over the sadness she knew he had to feel with each ghost they killed-even if they were just Hive. If she were him, if she were to watch her brothers and sisters being killed by other Guardians no matter how different they looked…she wasn't sure she'd be okay.
"Stop, stop, I was the one who…dealt with it." She started to loosen her grip and he wriggled free. "All you need to know: us wandering Ghosts gave in to the Hive believing we'd 'found purpose' and, well…." He turned his whole body vertically, "peer pressure's hell of a thing, huh?" He straightened himself out. "Also 'cause it's what the Traveler must've wanted! Then Hive kill Guardians with Light, and you think, 'That's really the Traveler's will? Really?'" His spines started twitching and she could see in his eye…he looked down and away from her for a fleeting moment.
Arizona wrapped her hands around him carefully, like a kind of hug, but he quickly wriggled free of that too.
"I'll tell ya what, I don't buy it. Not anymore. The Witch Queen's up to something, and, y'know, maybe together we can get to the bottom of it, huh? There's an old Hive temple nearby with Savathun's secrets inside-that is all I know. The what and why? Pfft, that's your game, yeah? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The name's Fynch!"
Arizona's eyes flashed to the Hive Knight behind Fynch. He would've been a titan. How long had he been…in this state? She looked at Ghost. "Send the location to the Fae and Argonaut. We're going to find out what this temple has to hide."
"A-Argonaut's here?" Fynch's green eye lit up. "The Argonaut."
"That's 'need to know'." Ghost said.
"Yeah, yeah." Fynch rolled his green eye.
"Just send Ghost the coordinates, Fynch, so we can send them to our fireteam. We will keep in touch."
"Okay, but secure channels only, yeah? Don't need the other ghosts finding out I went AWOL."
Arizona started down the hill, smiling to herself.
"What are you so happy about?" Ghost scoffed.
"We found a lead about this place, about Savathun. Any leads a good lead when you have no leads…and…I like Fynch."
"Why? He joined the Hive!"
"Which he admitted was a terrible mistake, Ghost." She stopped. "Don't you think that he deserves a second chance?"
Ghost shook his body. "No, these ghosts have what's coming to them!"
"They're your brothers and sisters, Ghost! How could you be so cold about that?"
"You're the one killing Lightbearers, are you regretful about that?"
She rolled her eyes. "They were never humans! Fynch is and was a ghost. It isn't the same thing! Just send the coordinates, Ghost!" She continued on, shaking her head.
Arizona waited outside of the cave that Fynch told them about. She had already cleared the Scorn out of the area. They sat in silence for a long while. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
Ghost turned to her. As Maria, she never would've apologized first, but Arizona was always quick to make up with him. Maria would be mad until at least the following day and then life went on as if nothing had happened, but Arizona craved companionship from others. He could feel that she felt…scared of being alone. "I should be a bit more sensitive about this…this…it isn't easy for either of us, truthfully." She nodded in greeting at Fae and Argonaut.
"So where is it you got this lead?" Fae folded her arms.
"A rogue…hopefully rogue Hive ghost." She admitted sheepishly.
"How do we know we can trust him then?" Argonaut questioned her harshly.
She couldn't look at him in the eyes. She looked away, as if that would somehow deescalate the hostility, "Ghost has already contacted Ikora. He's going to send regular updates about what's going on." She started in the cave, and the others followed, albeit hesitantly at first.
"Translation, we don't know we can trust him. But…any leads a good lead…" Ghost muttered. Arizona smiled and her hand came up and around him gently. He thought briefly of Maria. He missed Maria. Arizona had all of Maria's look, even her silvery hair, green eyes, but she carried herself differently from Maria. Maria carried herself like her actions spoke for itself, and Arizona carried herself like she had everything to prove. Maria was headstrong, she knew what she wanted and would dive headlong into any situation without thinking, Arizona didn't know the world, and she questioned everything within it. Maria got bored reading and studying, and looked to the Traveler for guidance, but Arizona looked at the Traveler with curiosity, and she enjoyed nothing more than a book in her hand. Both of them were fascinated by the world around them for different reasons: One was to survive; the other was to unlock the secrets. Maria would've made a good Warlock…but Arizona would be an exceptional Warlock one day, perhaps even surpassing Ikora.
"Scorn ahead," Ghost said suddenly, and he barely heard it himself. It was out of habit that he said anything at all, and he disappeared from her side.