Chapter 1: L.O.S

'Breathe in, breathe out,'

As a warlock, this was natural to Proto. Meditation had been a key aspect of his training. Ikora Rey would gladly spend a multitude of minutes discussing the benefits of meditation, especially now that his darkness abilities were proven to be tied to his mind by Osiris.

"NLS drive disengaging in sixty," Themis' digital voice came from his left. "Deorbit path set," His technical callouts were unanswered by Proto, but Themis knew he had heard him. Their connection was unique, like any other Ghost and their Guardian. Some things didn't have to be said. With a click, Themis' shell rotated about his eye. He was concerned about something.

"Something on your mind?" Proto asked, his own voice digital in a different way.

"How are you holding up, with everything we found in Bray Exoscience?" Themis asked.

"We've already talked about this. I'm fine. I'm no longer a mindless slave of Clovis'. That was literal centuries ago," Proto began. "I'm a guardian now. I've been one for some time now."

"Still, to become an Exo unwillingly?"

"Yes, and rather than fighting it I chose to embrace it. I have a name now," Proto said emotionlessly while one of his metallic hands touched the senor block that protruded from where every other Exo had a pair of optical processors which acted as faux eyes.

Themis couldn't argue with that, sometimes it got confusing when someone was trying to get Proto's attention, and every other guardian came to investigate.

"But something else is bothering you," Proto continued. "Tell me," he gently urged Themis.

"Well… Eris sent you a message. The portal to the Garden has become active again. I guess she thought you would like to know, seeing as you destroyed the sanctified mind. I was going to talk to Commander Zavala and get it delegated to a strike team to shut it down."

"Commander Zavala is still grieving."

"And you aren't? I'm not?" Themis challenged.

"Yes, but Commander Zavala knew Amanda ever since she was little. He was perhaps closer than any of us," Proto said, choosing not to mention how close Crow had wanted to be.

A silence filled the room, though Themis knew where this was going.

"Changing course, NLS drive recalibrating."

"Thank you, Themis."

Silence.

"Deorbit path set, NLS drive disengaging in ten."

"I assume you're bringing us to LZ two?" Proto asked.

"Yep, dropping us right outside The Scarlet Keep. Why?"

"Swing us by Eris for a low flyby, she'll know we're here," Proto explained as his small ship lurched, the dying whine of the NLS drive permeating the cockpit.

"Got it. R-Nav beacon locked, manually adjusting approach path."

As the Lunar surface began rapidly approaching, Proto pulled his helmet on, the plates shifting to conform around his head. With a click, lights came on, on the exterior of the helmet. For a moment, a temporary vision blackout as his Lidar-based infrared sensor block was disconnected, and the optical sensors and embedded exterior cameras took over. The familiar heads-up display blinked to life. His threat sensor radar calibrating and his linked weapons were already on display. It was somewhat strange to him, the shift from a narrow field of view in black and white to a wide field of with view color vision, but it did add a nice touch of situational awareness.

"Slowing to flyby speeds, we're passing over Eris now."

Proto reached for the stick and performed a slow roll of the craft while looking up through the viewport. There below he saw Eris' sanctuary away from the tower and Eris herself, though it was difficult to make out any details beyond her black-clad form looking up at him. Proto instinctively knew that for a fraction of a second, they had met each other's gaze. Confident that Eris knew of his approach, he rolled the craft upright relative to the lunar surface.

"Transmat prepped, firing in fifteen," said Themis, his own form disappearing. Proto stood and a few moments later he felt the familiar weightlessness and senselessness of a transmat. His vision swam and with a blink, he was just a few inches off the lunar surface. Landing and allowing his legs to absorb the impact with a bend in the knees. Proto watched with still somewhat unsteady vision as his craft made its automated return to orbit, picking up speed as the engines flared with power. It pitched up into an aggressive climb back up into low body orbit. Watching it for a moment Proto turned, weapon in hand, and began his short trek across the craggy and grey lunar surface. The imposing red fortress, a permanent fixture on the landscape. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see the odd Hunter keeping watch over the keep and prowling the area, unseen to any Hive unlucky enough to be caught out in the open. Activity had died down after his defeat of Hashladûn and Zulmak, but it never hurt to be ready. Of course, the Hunters didn't bother to try hiding from him. He was an ally. Still, he was only able to pick up on them when they decided to move, or by IFF hardware in their equipment.

Proto could disappear if he really needed to. Ikora had made inter-class teachings available to those who wanted to learn. She herself was to blame for his insatiable hunger for knowledge, and he had jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunately, his vanishing trick was not nearly as efficient or effective as a Hunter's, but it worked in a pinch. Same for his copycat uses of other Hunter and Titan abilities. Not nearly as good as the original, but acceptable in a dire situation. Unfortunately, the same was true of Titans and Hunters that had opted to learn warlock abilities. No matter how he tried to tackle teaching it, there seemed to be some limiting factor to using the abilities of a different class.

Dropping down from a raised rock face, Proto found himself at the Hive-made bridge which connected the "courtyard" of the keep to its gatehouse embedded in the terrain. He also came face to face with a lone acolyte, covered in its scarlet chitin. Its three green orbs, analogs for actual eyes, betrayed no emotion as it turned to face him. It simply raised its shredder and fired. Proto didn't bother using an actual weapon to counter while side-stepping the shots of the acolyte. During a break in fire, Proto drew from the light within and telekinetically pushed the acolyte off the bridge, sending it spiraling into the glowing haze-filled canyon below. He leaned over the edge of the bridge, watching it fall until a thud reached his figurative ears. Satisfied with his work, he crossed the bridge and followed the upwards-sloping path that had been carved into the lunar rock.

Coming to the gatehouse proper, Proto turned right and spotted his target. A small, unassuming opening in the rockface. From an outside inspection, it looked like a cave, but following this cave led to a massive cavern. Vex constructs could be seen in the distance, surrounding a large portal frame of Vex origin. The frame was active, and a few Harpies were milling about. The moss and over-growth on their bronze metal frames made them instantly recognizable as part of the Sol Divisive.

True to Eris' word, the portal to the Black Garden was active, but not connected. Out of habit, Proto checked to see if the firearm he held was indeed in battery and ready to fire. Seeing that it was, he jumped down and took aim. The familiar, rhythmic, barking report of the weapon system introduced him to the Harpies that weren't in his sights. As for the one that he had initially aimed at, kinetic rounds tore into it at multi-Mach speeds before it could greet him. Spilled Radiolaria and rapidly and improperly disassembled Vex components were the only reminders that it had ever existed.

The Harpies turned, saw him, and opened fire. Weaving in between purple energy beams and bolts of light Proto was untouched as his own weapon sent rounds down range, rapidly dismantling them. A new light opened within the active portal frame. A local Vex teleportation relay. Temporary and one-way only. Proto only let out an irritated grunt whilst surging forward, violet energy condensing and swirling in his hand. Throwing his arm out, the condensed ball of void soared through the cavern and right onto the portal's base in the middle of the localized relay. The small sphere expanded into a chaotic swirling vortex as soon as the arriving Goblins and Minotaurs materialized. Instantly, it ionized the semi-organic Vex. Reaching out to his target, he felt the familiar simultaneous squeezing and stretching of a blink. Instantly he was directly in front of the base, his weapon rattling off round after round, dismantling any surviving Vex.

Telltale signs of another local relay opened on the platform. If Proto had eyes, they would be narrowed. These Vex were persistent, annoyingly so. The Sol Divisive always had been. The relay artifact surged, and a massive minotaur appeared in front of him. Sidestepping its initial attack, Proto willed his rocket launcher into his hands and fired right at the Radiolaria containment piece. The penetrator head found purchase, the force of the rocket pushing the oversized amalgamation of Vex alloy and Radiolaria and exploding a moment later; disabling the frame and causing it to fall to the ground.

The one-way relays stopped, but the portal remained active. With the smoking barrel lowered, but his guard still raised, Proto approached the massive portal. His boots changed from the crunch of Lunar rock to the click of Vex terraforming. Stepping onto the still-active platform, his "vision" blurred and became washed with crackling energy. Proto walked around a bit, inspecting the frame of the portal, but wasn't able to find any obvious tells as to why it was active.

"Strange... Themis can you raise a line to Ikora? See if she can-"

A reverberating clunk of something heavy moving cut him off. The whir of machinery and the growing whine of energy.

"Shit" was all Proto could mutter before the portal activated. His vision was washed out by bright light as a sense of vertigo forced its way to the front of his mind. He always hated the way the Vex teleported.

Eris Morn always hated entering caves. Every time she did, it reminded her of that fateful mission. The nightmares conjured by the pyramid followed her, even here where the Vex gateway lay. Darkness had little sway over this part of the moon. The Sol Divisive may follow The Witness, but like any other Vex Divisive, they still desired the end of paracausality above all else. Omar's voice was hard to ignore, but she persisted. For a moment, her hand rested upon Luna's collar. Memories of her time with the canine came flooding back. Her hand dropped to her side, and she continued her approach. The massive cavern welcomed her with a dormant gateway, and no present Vex to contest her approach. She would have gotten some kind of signal of The Guar- 'Proto's' she cut off her own thoughts with the correction. Yes, of Proto's success.

Zavala had seemed upset on the surface when he found out that little tidbit from Proto's message earlier. That he had gone and investigated his past because the archived versions existed within Bray Exoscience. However, Zavala relented. Tradition and protocol seemed to matter little to him these days. He was more concerned with results, and for the past eight years of being a Guardian, Proto had delivered. She recalled with a bittersweet smile, watching the recordings of his solo descent into the Hellmouth, and putting Crota in the very moon he claimed for himself, permanently.

Walking up onto the smooth stone and metal platform, she knelt down and placed her hand on the surface. She felt his psychic imprint, he had been in this very spot. She heard his voice.

"Strange… Themis, can you raise a line to Ikora? See if she can… Shit," The voice in her mind cut off with a sharp spike of Vex interference. Then, silence. This had been a trap. The Vex were using themselves as a threat to push Guardian involvement, then taking them to who knows where. Probably the Garden, but that was risky. Especially with a light bearer as strong as Proto. He could wipe out any other Vex minds that had his after his defeat of The Ascendant mind.

Proto may need help getting a way home, and she knew just who to contact. Asher Mir would have been her first choice.

"Hold fast Proto," Eris said to the dead portal frame. "Elsie will be here soon," she finished while turning for the exit to the Lunar surface.

Wooo! My second fic ever, and I'm pretty proud of it. Thank you so much for reading, and please rate and review if you feel so inclined. Updates will be happening on a semi-regular basis.