Pyrrha flew her red and bronze Echo-class Jumpship over the Last City, hitting the switch to let one of the pilots waiting in the hangar take over and transmatted onto the Tower courtyard. Encrypting her helmet, she looked around the Tower. Master Rahool looked up, interest in the hooded Awoken's eyes. Pyrrha shook her head, before pausing and walking over to the Cryptarch, "Hello, Rahool."

"Hello, Pyrrha. An Engram for me to decrypt, I assume?" He said.

"No, I had a question for you. About the past. Post Collapse. I know, not your area of expertise. But-"

"I have plenty of information from after the Collapse, I just don't particularly care about sitting around telling stories from that time," Rahool said, "but I'll make an exception for you. What did you want to know?"

"What did… What did Ruby do before she joined the Iron Lords?"

"Ruby?" Rahool repeated, "She was a Warlord. The land that became the Last City was ruled over by her."

There it was, the confirmation Pyrrha didn't want to hear. She quietly thanked Rahool and began to walk towards the Vanguard building. In the hall before it, however, she was stopped by Shaxx.

"Pyrrha!" The boisterous Titan said, before seeming to notice her expression, "Is something wrong?"

"I need to talk to Ruby."

"I believe she's on the console now," Shaxx said, "You know we're not allowed to interrupt the Vanguard in those circumstances outside of an emergency. What's wrong?"

"Ruby was…" Pyrrha swallowed and said, "Ruby was a Warlord."

"You didn't know?" Shaxx's voice dropped, becoming soft as he took her by the shoulder, guiding her into his office, "No, of course you didn't know, Ruby would never willingly tell you what she did back then."

"You knew?" Pyrrha asked.

"Of course I knew, we traded, on occasion," Shaxx said, and Pyrrha jerked.

"You…?"

"Why do you think I call myself Lord Shaxx, Pyrrha?" Shaxx said, as gently as he could, "I was a Warlord too, yes. Because I believed, and I think Ruby was the same given how quickly she gave leadership to the Speaker and joined the Iron Lords, that the people under us needed a leader. I won't pretend we weren't harsh at times, it was a necessity in those times, but we were never harsh without reason."

"But… I can't imagine Ruby as…"

"A slaver, a tyrant, a monster that needed to be stopped? All the things we paint the Warlords as to keep Guardians from getting any ideas?" Pyrrha nodded, "She wasn't any of those things. The worst she, we, did was execute people for breaking laws, because we didn't have the resources to keep them jailed. And Ruby and I, we tried to keep our laws just. Who made you think about this line of questioning?"

"Ouros," Pyrrha said.

"And you trusted her?" Shaxx said, "Ouros thinks the Vanguard should be a military dictatorship, that they should remove the Speaker and the Consensus and rule like they were Warlords again. She didn't know who Ruby was during those times, just that she was a Warlord."

"So, what should I do?"

"That is up to you. You can choose to forgive Ruby for keeping this a secret, you can choose not to. She may have done it so as to not hurt your opinion of her, but she did tell a lie of omission."

"I think… I think I need time to think it over."

"That's understandable," Shaxx said, patting her on one pauldron and letting Pyrrha leave. As she stepped back into the courtyard, a voice called for her.

"Pyrrha?"

— X Weiss X—

Weiss watched the woman with short, spikey crimson red hair stop and turn towards her, emerald green eyes blinking, "Weiss?"

Pyrrha had on heavy, or what seemed to pass as heavy for Guardians, bronze and red armor. Mostly bronze, but the few places where her spacesuit was visible underneath were clearly red, and she had a long strip of red fabric hanging from her hip, emblazoned with her emblem and, more prominently, the image of a broken, rough hewn sword.

"Hello," Weiss said, feeling slightly awkward. Before she could say anything else, Pyrrha had crossed the small gap between them, hoisted Weiss up from the bench she was sitting on and pulled her into a tight hug. Weiss, despite the awkwardness of being crushed against the plastic-like armor, immediately returned the hug.

"What are you doing out here?" Pyrrha asked.

"Waiting for Ruby," Weiss said, "I-"

"Victoria, call Ruby," Pyrrha said, and a Ghost with a red and bronze shell appeared next to her shoulder. After a second, a voice that definitely wasn't Ruby came from it.

"What?" The voice said, sounding irritated.

"Hello, Blossom. I was hoping to talk to Ruby really quick?"

"She's on the console. I'll take a message."

"Tell her I'm taking Weiss down to the apartment, please."

"Fine," the voice said, then went silent as Pyrrha's Ghost shook itself.

"I hate her, she's such a jerk."

"She doesn't like talking is all," Pyrrha defended, before being covered in a flash of light. When she exited it, she was no longer wearing her armor but instead a pair of jeans and a sleeveless, backless sweater that caused Weiss to swallow uncomfortably, a necklace with purple and gold engrams dangling from it, "This is my Ghost, Victoria."

"This is-" Weiss turned to see Mikeal ducking behind her, staring at Pyrrha with a wide eye, "Mikeal?"

"How are you talking to her so casually?" Mikeal said.

"What?"

"She's Pyrrha Nikos, Crota's End," Mikeal said.

"I don't know who that is," Weiss said, "but I know Pyrrha, we went to school together."

"It's alright, Little Light. I'm not offended at her talking to me like we're friends because we are friends. She can even join my fireteam, if she wants."

"Fireteam?"

"Groups of Guardians between two and six," Pyrrha said, as they began to walk, "I'm on one with Penny, but I'm sure she'll be happy to have you."

"You mentioned an apartment we're going to?" Weiss asked as they stepped into an elevator.

"The Vanguard each has a floor a bit down," Pyrrha said, typing in a number to the keypad, "Me and Penny share the Hunter one with Ruby. I'm sure Ruby would be happy to have you, even if you have to stay on the couch until we can get a bed delivered, probably tomorrow or the day after! It's easier than having to find a place to stay inside the City."

"You'd let me?" Weiss said.

"Of course. You're as good as family, Weiss. None of us are gonna make you stay in one of the barracks or something until you can get enough Glimmer for a house."

Weiss shot a thankful smile at Pyrrha.

— X Penny X—

Penny brought her LRv1 Javelin down into the Tower hanger, landing it gently and stepping out. Amanda looked over from where she was in a cage working on an Arcadia-class Jumpship.

"Hello, Amanda," Penny said, walking over to the cage.

"Hiya, Pen," Amanda said, "How are ya doing?"

"I'm doing sensational," Penny said, "New ship?"

"Came in from the wild a couple of hours ago with a new Guardian," Amanda said, "It's a bit of a mess, missing paneling, leaking fuel, missing NLS drive. It's gonna take a couple of days to get it up to standards. Still an Arcadia, though, so should run like a beut once we get everything fixed up. Did ya need something, or just lookin' for small talk?"

"Just checking in," Penny said, "I'm going to go home and get this radiolaria off."

"Sortied against the Vex, then?" Amanda asked rhetorically, "Good idea. See you around, Penny."

"See you later, Amanda," Penny said, walking towards the elevator to bring her down to her apartment. Stepping into it, she hummed to herself as it brought her down thirty floors. Opening to a hallway with a single door, Penny walked by the frame wiping the floor and typed in the four digit pass code to the apartment, stepping in to Pyrrha's voice.

"That's Ruby's office," she said to a girl with short, messy white hair, "It's where she works when she's called in suddenly or is working on a Roseworks Original."

"Does she ever take a break?" Penny locked up at the voice from the white haired girl.

"Vanguard isn't a position that allows for much in the way of breaks," Pyrrha said, "she takes a day off per week, but she's still technically on call during that time."

"I can't imagine Ruby taking on a position like that," Weiss said, "What happened?"

"Tallulah challenged her to the Vanguard Dare before she died," Penny said, before rushing forwards and pulling Weiss into a bone crushing hug.

— X Weiss X—

Weiss gasped for air the minute Penny finished hugging her, looking over the other girl. She was wearing a gray bulletproof vest, with her signature power sign on it in green, under a long green coat with black accents, and a band around her bicep with the same power symbol.

"Penny!" Weiss breathed.

"Weiss!" Penny said, "It's good to see you! Welcome to the Last City."

"Thank you," Weiss said, "So, what's the Vanguard Dare?"

"It's how the Hunters decide on their Vanguard. The current Vanguard dares someone to take on the position. At least, they would if Ruby hasn't held the position since Tallulah died. What happened to Myrtenaster?"

Weiss drew the rusted sword off her hip ruefully, "It broke while I was dead. I need to make enough Glimmer to get it fixed."

"We could pay," Penny immediately offered, and Pyrrha nodded.

"You'd do that?" Weiss asked, "Ruby-"

"Can't show favoritism in where she puts Glimmer, we know," Pyrrha said, "We all were missing equipment when we got to the Tower. But we're not members of the Vanguard, we can use our Glimmer for anything we want, which means getting you some clothes, both civilian and Guardian equipment, and Myrtenaster fixed. Have you picked which Class you're going to join?"

"They didn't tell me about Classes," Weiss said.

"They really are busy," Pyrrha commented.

"I need to go get cleaned off," Penny threw out, walking towards one of the rooms and opening the door to reveal a bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and a shower, "I'll see you both in a few minutes."

"All Guardians are divided into three classes," Pyrrha explained, "Titan, Hunter and Warlock. Titans… we're the tip of the spear, the wall that doesn't break. The Wall we're on, the one that protects the City from the Fallen? Titans man it, occasionally the other classes too, but always Titans. Zavala is our Vanguard."

"So, heavy armor I guess?" Weiss asked, and Pyrrha nodded, causing Weiss to pull a face, "I don't think that's for me. No offense, Pyrrha."

"It's important to pick a class that works for you," Pyrrha said, "Hunters are frontiersmen, they prefer to be out in the wild, scavenging, hunting single, important targets, taking them out with a shot they never saw coming, or a knife to their back.

"Assassins?" Weiss asked. She couldn't picture Ruby leading assassins.

"Legalized outlaws," Pyrrha corrected, "I've never met a Hunter that hasn't broken the law. Ruby keeps them on the level, but even the Wolfpack, Ruby's handpicked group of Hunters, do smuggling runs. They do the dirty work nobody else wants to do, so the Consensus turns a blind eye so long as they behave in the Last City."

"Definitely not," Weiss said, "Warlocks?"

"Warrior-Scholars," Pyrrha said, "They study the Light, learn to use it to fight. A Hunter will light their knife on fire, a Warlock will throw out bolts of fire to incinerate their target."

Weiss held out her hand, a ball of purple energy forming in it, "Like this?"

"Yes," Pyrrha nodded.

"Then I guess I'll be a Warlock," Weiss said, closing her hand. Pyrrha nodded again.

"Victoria, call Ikora."

"Hello, Pyrrha, what is it?" Ikora said

"Could you send a Warlock bond down to Ruby's apartment?"

"Weiss chose to join us?"

"Yes, ma'am," Weiss said.

"I'm glad to hear that," Ikora said, "I'll send the bond down right away."

Victoria shook herself as soon as the call was done… and then Weiss's stomach rumbled.

"Sorry?" She squeaked, blushing.

"Have you had anything to eat since you were revived?" Weiss shook her head, "you must be starving! Penny, me and Weiss are going out!"

"Ok!" Penny called.