Ghost could feel that something bothered Arizona. She couldn't concentrate during the Crucible games and, with the encouragement of Fae and Argonaut, even attempted a few Gambit games that simply…didn't go well. It seemed like every turn around a corner and she was frozen.
"Stasis is…everywhere. You have to learn how to avoid it is all." Fae told her shortly after her loss, but she didn't shrug it off as easily as Ghost would've liked her too. Even now, piecing together the clips of a pyramid in Savathun's throne world, and attempting to get the story from each image she seemed distracted. Even up at the highest point that she could get, sitting precariously on the edge, she was distracted.
"Arizona?"
She barely responded to her name. Her eyes flickering from one picture to another on a tablet Maria used a few times in the past.
"Arizona." He said her name more sternly.
Finally, she looked up. "Hm?"
"You seem…distracted."
"Just thinking," her eyes traveled back down toward the images.
"About?"
She sighed and looked up at the Bazaar. The Bazaar was mostly empty of life, even Ikora was nowhere to be found here. She looked toward the Traveler, who had a brilliant glow against the orange and pink sunset. "I hate being a pawn in someone's fantasy and I felt so…useless in the Throne World. Watching Argonaut and Fae…watching all the Guardians here wield Darkness, it's obviously a useful tool so why…why didn't Zavala just allow me a choice? Why did he have to use me as an example of why Darkness isn't needed. Clearly it is."
Ghost stared at her for a long while. "What makes you say that?"
"Laws of nature?" She shrugged and pointed at her long shadow and his. "You can't have Light without Darkness, Ghost. One can't live without the other." She shrugged and looked at him, "What do you think, though?"
He was a little taken aback by the question, and at first he didn't know how to answer. "What do you mean?"
"What do you think? If I…went looking for the Pyramid in Europa would you…would you be okay with that?"
"Why are you asking for my opinion?" They watched as two Guardians chased a smaller Guardian and his ghost. The other ghosts did nothing to intervene even as the other two tackled the smaller Guardian and carried him to the edge, leaving his ghost to watch.
"Because it isn't just me being affected, right? Wouldn't you be affected in a way also? We're a team, you and I, so if there is any decision I make that does make you uncomfortable I'd want to know about it."
The ghost waited to revive their Guardian until the other two Guardians had moved on, laughing at the scream he made on the way down the side of the Tower.
Ghost thought about it for a minute. He'd known since Savathun's Throne World that she'd become pulled toward the Darkness. He supposed it was going to be inevitable that she'd become too curious, but he had covered his suspicions in a layer of hope that she would simply obey Zavala's orders. "I've…known you for a very long time, Arizona. I can't say I'm surprised by your curiosity…or rebellion." Arizona rolled her eyes. "No matter what you choose, I won't leave you. I'll be by your side and support whatever you do, but I can't say that I would be overly excited about it either."
Arizona smiled. "I figured you'd say something like that. I'll talk to the Drifter then and see if he can help keep me under the radar for a few days."
The Drifter wasn't a man Arizona much liked talking to, and she got the feeling he didn't like her either. Still, she bought him a drink at one of his favorite shady bars, and he gulped down his beer, but she hardly touched hers.
"Alright, what's the catch to all this?"
Arizona smiled a sly smile, "Why does there have to be a catch?"
The Drifter waved the half empty beer bottle by its neck. "For one thing, the most we've spoken was your disastrous Gambit game and I don't remember being invited to drinks with you and your friends after that."
Arizona chuckled nervously, "Right to the point then? Not really a catch, I just couldn't risk someone telling on me to Commander Zavala."
The Drifter's lips broke out into a crooked smile and he leaned forward, his arms on the table. "And what kind of trouble are you about to get us into?"
"Nothing exciting. I just…There are Pyramids on Europa, and that's where other Guardians have been…" Her voice trailed off and she took a gulp of the beer, and another gulp, and another until her head swam, but her lips didn't become any looser.
"I think I get the idea." He leaned back against his seat. "And you don't want Zavala finding out about your-"
"Curiosities, yes. I just need help keeping under the radar for a few days is all. Can you help me? I'd pay you for it even."
One of his eyebrows shot up. Maybe she should've kept that part to herself. She pursed her lips. "Yeah, alright, I'll help you out, sister. A service for a service." He leaned forward, his hand on the neck of the beer bottle, circling it until the contents inside made a whirlpool. "I've got a…well, let's call it a little gift that dropped by accident in Europa. I've managed to trace it."
Arizona's eyebrow raised. "A gift?"
He shrugged. "We'll call it that for now."
"Right. So, when do we leave?"
"You'll leave whenever you're ready."