Epilogue: Truth

Skylar

"So, he knows the truth then?" Z is the first of the five others on the comms to say anything. His voice is slightly distorted, the rumble of both of their ships speeding through the star a normal occurrence. They'd left Earth hours ago, heading back towards Europa. It had been nearly a day now, and in the far, far distance she could see the tiny circle that was the icy moon. Saturn's rings overshadowed it, a great cluster of rocks blown away from a dead king's ship more eye-catching than the frozen rock. Skylar had decided after hours of debating to let her fireteam know what had happened. It was personal, true, but depending on what Cayde decided, it would change everyone's interactions with the former Exo, if they interacted at all once they got back.

Besides, the people she had with her had already known the truth and she trusted them.

"Well, probably not yet, not completely since there's a lot to watch, but, yeah," she said with a sigh. "I figured it would be a good time to leave and give him some space. Shiro knows to keep his comms on just in case." The poor Exo had been both relieved and worried, much as Skylar was.

"You did the right thing," Noble said after a moment. "I know it isn't easy, but no matter how it goes from here, it's the better choice for him. He needed to know, one way or another."

If only he knew Corvan had threatened to do just that if she hadn't.

"I agreed," Haar chimed in, sounding like a proud parent.

"I know," she said, tired of this conversation already. She didn't need or want a debate, she just wanted her head to be clear before they ventured into the unknown that was the Deep Stone Crypt.

"Stop stressing her out, guys," Lilith cut in. "It doesn't matter whether or not you agree, she made the decision, it's done, let it go. No one likes being nagged about their love life."

"Says the woman who can't keep a guy to save her life," Noble said with a chuckle.

"Shut the fuck up, Perkins. "

"I thought we agreed we'd stop calling me that! I don't even have the helmet anymore!"

On and on they went with what sounded like Z trying to be a buffer, but unable to get a word in. Skylar shook her head slightly. If anything they were good at keeping things from getting too heavy before something as dangerous as their destination. A destination far more dangerous than anything they'd probably seen so far on the icy moon. The feeling again of being inadequate whispered in her head. Not as strong as when she'd willingly bound a Hive god to her, or even when she'd taken on Stasis, but it was still there. Maybe it always would be.

That didn't mean she didn't want to try to fix it if the solution was in reach. At that confrontation in the forest, Skylar felt it might be. Glancing down at her dashboard, she eyed the many buttons and switches, skating her gaze over to the comms system. At the moment, she had the open channel of her comm on, letting everyone in the fireteam jabber and poke fun. She could keep listening, and part of her wanted to, but the nagging feeling wouldn't just stop if she did. So, she switched the comm to mute her voice.

Just ask, Xol purred from behind her, the riffle leaned up against her leg. She frowned and pushed it off.

"Sterling?" she asked, and the Ghost blinked into existence from where he'd been driving the ship.

"What can I do ya for?" he asked, trying to sound chipper even as he too was stressed and worried about the event to come. She gave a small smile to the little star before taking a breath.

"Call Sin for me, will you?"

A pause, then Sterling bobbed in the air and a light blinked red at the end of one fin. A small shudder of static came through the mic as the call was picked up, and then Corvan's voice rang true.

"Skylar?"

"Hey, um…" She paused for a moment, trying to gather her suddenly jumbled thoughts, as though just the sound of his voice had scattered them. It still felt awkward, speaking to him after what had happened that night. Her chest twisted at the memory, not will guilt, but with sadness. With yet another 'what it could have been' on her pile of misses and ignored choices.

Should she even be asking him this?

"Sky?" his voice had softened slightly, concerned. "What's wrong?" Of course he knew it was something bad. If it wasn't she likely wouldn't have called him on a private line. She looked down at her lap.

"How did you do it?" she asked finally. "You used Stasis and Arc at the same time, how did you even come up with that?" She hadn't told anyone about it, and she doubted Corvan had either. Something like combining 'good' and 'evil' would likely be seen as a heresy among many of the masses and she wasn't sure how her friends would feel either.

"I got it from you," he admitted. "If you've forgotten, your Light is different from everyone else's. It's not Arc or Void, it's a mix that can no longer be separated. We don't know why it happened when we got our Light back after Ghaul died, but it did. After we got Stasis, after what happened at my apartment a month ago, I had some time to think while I got my head on straight. If using Light the way you did worked, why wouldn't something else?" He let out a small humorless huff. "It's a good thing there was no one else there."

"It sounds like you did something as reckless as Z trying to strap trip mines together," she replied honestly. She openly accepted the searing glare she felt from him across space. "How many times did you bite it?" She might as well dig her grave deeper at this point.

"That is no-"

"Twenty-seven times," Sin answered over the line, sounding amused. Skylar bit her lip so hard to stop from laughing, she tasted blood. So even hardass Dark Age Hunters still ran into brick walls. She wondered if he was blushing. What a sight that would be — right before you died and never came back, she was sure.

Clearing her throat, she tried to steer the conversation back on track.

"But you did it," she stated.

"Obviously," he said with exasperation. "Are you going somewhere with this?" Yep, he was more than done after that humor at his expense. Straight to the point then.

"Do you think you could walk someone through that process?"

Silence.

Complete and utter silence on the other side of the comms.

"Skylar." The icy rim to his voice was back again, crawling out from the forest he had frozen. "You don't need it."

"But-" The protest was a knee jerk reaction that he quickly cut off.

"No."

"You didn't either!" she snapped, frustrated by his tone. She was not a child nor was she stupid. "Out of any of us, you are the one that most certainly didn't need it." The fact that he'd switched between Light classes so fast in that battle should have proved that. He was old and he was powerful and as always, he was a damn prick. "So why can't I learn?"

"Skylar," he said again, and once more she halted any more words. "What did you tell me during that battle when I asked you to use Stasis on those Guardians?"

"I…" She stopped, thinking back for a moment, before understanding what he was talking about in an instant. "I said I couldn't do it." Because she'd promised herself she'd never use Darkness on anyone other than the creatures that sought to destroy them all. A last ditch move when all else failed.

"Exactly. You don't use that power much to begin with, so why would it be any different if you use it over the top of your Light? Would you strike down a Guardian with that?" His words made her flinch slightly, and she wondered if she'd made a sound because he went on. "Thought so."

Skylar looked at her hand as they laid in her lap and felt that need start to crumble at his words, even as that frustration held.

"I can't let what happened in that forest happen again," she said finally.

"I know you don't," he agreed. "But throwing yourself into more dangerous gambles won't help. Look at what happened with the Whisper — you gained power, but at what cost?"

"Hunters like gambling."

"Skylar-"

"I know, I know, I get it," she said quickly. "I just don't know what else I can do."

"For now? Nothing. What happened out there was not due to a lack of power, but a lack of focus. You were worried, and that idiot forgot who and what he is now. Hopefully, he learned his lesson." There was still a tinge of anger in those words, left over from his little snarling contest with Cayde. He'd been right, just like he was now. "Greater power isn't always the answer, Skylar."

"Then why did you do it?"

Silence once more, but not for as long.

"Because it's all I know how to do well," he said finally. "I've always been good at gaining power and using it to kill and tell others how to do the same. I needed something to do that I knew I wouldn't screw up indefinitely at."

Like what he'd done with her. What was it she'd said to him?

'How are you so old and yet so bad at this!'

He was right, he had screwed up, they both had but…

"I was happy, you know," she said without even really thinking about it.

"What?" Corvan asked, confused by the sudden change in subject. She smiled slightly at nothing.

"You said you didn't know if I was happy when we were together. The truth is, you made the world more bearable Corvan. I'm not sure what would have happened to me if you hadn't been there. It wasn't what it should have been, but I was happy, because I knew you cared in some way or another."

Skylar had just never let herself consider that it was love.

Too little, too late. The ship had already left the dock and both had missed it.

"Whatever he decides to do," Corvan said after another long pause. "Know that I won't let you fall apart again." If he walks away from you, I'll be here.

Skylar swallowed down the panic and pain the thought of that brought and shut her eyes. She wondered how far into those logs he'd gotten. She wondered if he'd ever want to see her again. Knowing someone would be there to hold her together in a different way than just a friend, someone who she'd already let breach certain boundaries.

It seemed like a cruel thing to let him hope for, and even worse that she was glad of it.

"I know." Thank you.

Their silent little communications, Skylar let out a breath that made her body feel lighter.

"Uh, Sky? You there?" Z's voice rang out and she blinked, remembering the group was still on one of the comm lines and that she'd basically just been ignoring them to have this conversation. Glancing forward, the moon had gotten much larger now. She heard the Ghost comm line click off before she could say another word to Corvan, and sighed, wondering if there had been anything else to say, or if everything was finally said and done. Reaching over, she unmuted her speaker.

"Yeah, I'm here. Was just looking over a few things."

"You good?" Haar asked, and she smiled to herself again, reaching up with her hand to clutch at her armor that concealed her crescent moon necklace. Cayde's light thrummed within even now, keeping the place near her heart warm.

Whatever happened next, there were no more regrets about her past actions. No more rippling pain at the mere thought of them. She'd take whatever came next the only way she could — one step at a time.

"Just itching to unlock the secrets in that crypt. Drinks are on me when we get home."

Because she would get home, there was no other option. She had a dare to keep after all.

Z and Noble were sent cheering, while Haar and Lilith laughed. Somewhere in that mess of sounds, she thought she heard a quiet chuckle.

As she glanced out the glass into the endless darkness, pin pricked with stars, Skylar saw something brighter. A comet, its blue tail drawing a streak across the sky and leaving a path back towards home.

Cayde

Despite his determination to do so, Cayde didn't watch the logs the moment he got back to his apartment. Instead, he went to bed and tried to rest, getting a few hours before he went to work. That lasted a whole three hours because he kept messing up and staring off into space, going so far as to accidentally cut his arm while working on the body of a broken sparrow. Flabbergasted, Amanda finally told him to go home for the day.

At least she hadn't fired him.

Once he was home… he came up with reasons not to watch, fixing lunch, cleaning up, cleaning his gun. It wasn't that he didn't want to know, but there was this… apprehension about it that made him hesitate. Skylar's words had stuck with him, and now he was worried. He didn't want things to change between them, and yet he did so badly. He wanted to know who she was before all of this, before he died, what she might have been like before Tevis died. He wanted to know why he'd become attached to her so quickly.

He had a slight idea about that, but because of Tevis, Cayde didn't even want to think about it. So, with his gun cleaned, everything he had to do was done, except watching those logs. Sighing, he walked over to his desk and grabbed the data chip before moving to the couch. The table in front of him held a holo screen generator and with an easy click, he slid the chip into the slot and turned it on. It created the floating screen silently, first empty blue as it loaded, and then there was a short clipping of the graphics, followed by a moving picture. A recording of himself as an Exo, leaning against the breakfast bar in a kitchen he actually remembered.

"Is it on?" he watched himself ask, and received a sigh in reply.

"Yes, all of your specifications are now in order , " a strong female, yet electronic voice stated from close by the mic and Cayde felt his chest twisted in the echoes of sorrow. Sundance. He wasn't sure why it had never occurred to him that he'd hear her speak in these, since she'd have to be the one recording them, but it hadn't and it hurt with renewed grief to know she wasn't by his side anymore.

Still, the recording played on even as he was left in the wake of an aching wound now reopened.

"Right, thanks Sun," his Exo self said offhandedly, clearing his throat before he stared intently at the feed, a smirk appearing moments later. "Names Cayde-6, dashingly handsome Exo Hunter, Vanguard leader, generally bored out of my mind. These logs are being started to ensure that if that '6' ever becomes a '7' I can fill in the missing pieces easier. Reboots are kind of a mystery and you never know what you'll be left with." A bitter edge entered his voice at that, but he continued without pause. "My Ghost, Sundance, will start taking random log entries from now on until further notice, I'm leaving it up to her for the most part for what she records." He nodded to himself, thinking, pondering if he needed to say anything else before the rise of his brow plate signals that he does. "Oh, and Zavala, if you're watching these for some reason, it's your own damn fault if you see something you wish you hadn't. You have been warned." With the kind of smirk only an Exo could have, the screen clicked blue again, loading the next log.

Cayde should have known he'd find himself sounding just a tad arrogant, even still, he felt the near mirror of the smirk on his face at the end for the warning to Big Blue. It sure sounded like something he'd say — because it was . Relaxing slightly, he settled in for a long day of home movies as Sundance captured moments that played out over days and weeks and months. It all seemed pretty normal to him, just the normal insanity that was his life: being bored out of his mind due to his job, running off when he shouldn't, breaking rules when he could, and spicy ramen all the time.

It was surreal, but also soothing.

Then on a log somewhere in the teens, his Ghost got a message about a new Hunter, the first one in years. Guardians hadn't been coming back a lot those days from what he understood, so Cayde understood the excitement his former self had at the prospect. To the relief of both his former and present selves, the suspense was short-lived, because a little while later, that new Hunter came walking into the Vanguard room, fitting with a faulty piece of gear.

Base hunter armor was so clunky.

The Hunter in question was… intense to say the least. Female, human, with pale skin and the slim muscled body most Hunters had. Then, there was her hair. Short, but longer towards the back, and somehow an unbelievable shade of amber. It looked like someone had made a dye out of Solar Light and used it on her. Mesmerized, he watched his Exo self move closer and greet her, gaining her attention as her head lifted and she met his eyes, and looked straight into the camera for one moment as she saw Sundance.

Her eyes were golden, the hue intensified by the dark blue streak across them from temple to temple.

He stared.

Cayde knew that gaze — he knew it because every time he closed his eyes lately, he saw it. Even as her head turned to look away and toward his former self, Cayde's mind took that blue and turned it red.

She'd said once her marking had been blue before the Traveler had burned it.

This Hunter's hair wasn't black though, no, it was the color of the sun. The same color of orange that had haunted his dreams, always accompanied by dark blue.

"Skylar," The voice of the Hunter knocked him from his support, and he realized he'd missed a few lines. Not that he cared, not when it was her voice, saying her name. "Sterling is the one that found me… I... the sky was the first thing I saw and it was... I don't know. I wanted a name that reminded me of it."

Sterling.

There was no way around it, Cayde knew. This smiling, amber hair rookie, was the raven haired woman he had come to know. The harsh change in her coloring was a bit hard to swallow at first — why would she ever change it? Furthermore, in order to do that, Skylar would have had to have her Ghost change her genetic code. Not impossible, but Cayde had heard it could be a little unpleasant seeing as it had to be done when you were dead.

"There was a time where I found joy so easily even in darkness, and when you said I made the world brighter than Solar Light just by smiling."

She'd been right, her smile, though a bit weary and confused, did in fact do just that.

So, this is what she'd meant. The only question was why would she think that had changed?

There was only one way to find out.

He kept watching.

Hours ticked by as he watched, and Skylar showed up more and more in the logs. He asked if she'd be his rookie, showed her how to shoot, and included her in poker games. He watched Tevis and her get to know each other, watched her make friends with the founding members of her fireteam — or some of them anyway. It seemed Z and Haar had been with her from almost the beginning, after all.

Then she helped take out the Heart of Darkness in the Black Garden and she'd become Skylar the Phantom, his own stupid idea. Cayde wondered how much grief she'd gotten from being given a title at hardly a year into her new life. Skylar hadn't even mentioned it, and seeing as she still used the name, it must have worked for her. Either way, it seemed to be a turning point, and as Skylar had told him before, the stakes only got higher.

He saw the Vault of Glass, conquered, her team holding a giant Vex head over their own and the crowed cheered. A glorious moment that had the same sense of pride he must have had then formed in his chest. It was a dazzling sight to behold — if only it had lasted.

But the Hive never let anything last.

Something in Cayde's chest twisted at the log where he and Skylar sat back to back the night before the raid on Crota, and he found himself wishing he'd been there. He had been, of course, but he couldn't remember it, didn't have the sensation of that moment for him to feel.

He watched more — and almost wished he hadn't.

Cayde wondered in some part of his mind that wasn't locked in horror, if he ever got that scream out of his head. If he ever got the image of that black corruption in Skylar's wounds to stop being in the nightmares he was certain he would have had. A phantom pain in his hand ached as if he'd just punched Corvan now in the present instead of just in the logs from years ago. Corvan had those scars on his face, so at least Cayde knew where the Hunter had gotten them.

After that, the logs started to blend together like a movie, the events of the raid they'd managed to finish coming back to haunt Skylar again and again. She lost herself, drank, locked herself away, and for a moment Cayde thought maybe it hadn't been the loss of love, but this that had changed her hair color, that had made her attitude towards her life differ. It wasn't, instead, he watched his Exo self give her the Ace of Hearts and her cling to his back the moment he turned away.

Just like the black-haired version of herself had to humanize him after he'd told her he didn't care about the Darkness. He'd known he'd felt it before, even if he couldn't remember where, the gesture had been familiar, and now he knew why.

The scenes went on and on, and a feeling creeped up upon him like slowly growing vines that were rooted into place during a card game. Skylar had kissed him, and Tevis had dared him to do something about it. Then, he died, leaving his Light with Skylar. Cayde didn't need to watch what happened next to know the truth, but his brain seemed unable to really comprehend the facts that were staring him straight in the face, not till one scene that had been an argument and a confession and Skylar had said one simple phrase:

"I love you too, Cayde."

Not Tevis. Not his friend, but Cayde himself.

He paused the video so he could stare at the scene of two happy people, and one of them was an Exo — one of them was him .

"I love you, Skylar."

The words from his own mouth vibrated through him and suddenly so many things made sense. So many unexplained feelings and wants and dreams. It hadn't been a fluke at all that he had so badly wanted to be around her, that he had been unable to stop himself from kissing her. Even if he couldn't remember, some part of his subconscious did.

They'd been happy. So happy together that it made it hard to believe that she was who she was now.

Then — then, he remembered something very important, the answer to the change in her hair color, for Amanda had been telling the truth.

Cayde had died.

He had stared up at the ceiling so many times while in bed, thinking about how stupid Tevis had been to do something so reckless when he had someone like Skylar waiting for him back home. But no, not Tevis, not even close.

After all, it was Cayde that had always been reckless, not his friend.

It had cost him more than he could have ever imagined, destroying a type of happiness he'd dreamed of having. A happiness he had ripped from Skylar when it had been part of who she was for more than half of her life. His fault. His choice. His responsibility.

Taking in a shaky breath, Cayde reached out and pressed 'play' on the video. Even if his mind was a wreck and his heart sank into his feet, Cayde couldn't stop from wanting to know more. He needed to know everything, to watch everything before Skylar returned. Even now, no matter what else he saw, Cayde already had his answer for her. How could he ever push her away when she had loved him enough to bring him back.

"I just wanted to hear your laugh again."

He'd do much more than that, but first Cadye needed everything, every moment on the data chip he could get. Maybe he couldn't remember them normally, but he'd imprint it all into his head now. There was a lot to talk about, and not all of it would be pleasant, not after finding this out, not after realizing she'd kept this from him. There was more than that, so much more in his head that needed to be sorted and arranged so he had the right words to tell her.

Then all he had to do was go all in and lay those cards on the table.

He just hoped his hand was good enough.

END

"It's like you knew who I was, who I am, who I could be, and you're still standing her, in spite of everything." – 'Darkness in Me' by Fight the Fade

A/N:

You guys didn't think YOU were the ones 'watching' the first two books, did you? ;)

With that out of the way, I wanted to talk about this story moving forward. The next book, Reforged Spirits, is the last one. Originally, it was supposed to be part of this book, but seeing as the flashbacks ended, I felt it was a good point to break things up. You're probably wondering how this story can end, due to the always-growing content of the game, but the fact is, that I decided over a year ago to end it before Witch Queen, as I had mapped out things for this story, before that came out. What's it cover? Well, There's a certain worm god and a certainly newly rezzed hunter to deal with, plus you know, all that agest of figuring out how to get back together, lol.

So, as far as when it comes out? I don't know. There's a part of me that doesn't care to ever get it out partly due to the game bumming me out. But, I don't like leaving things unfinished, and it would be heartless of me to leave things with a cliffhanger. So, I can promise it will be written and posted. I'm just not sure when. My main focus right now in writing is working on my original novel, which had been slow coming due to this and other stories on the back burner. Be rest assured that when the first chapter does come out though, I will put a notice chapter on this story to let you all know. Also, be sure to check out my LinkTree on my Bio page so you can find me everywhere easily for updates. Come to tumbler and ask me questions, who knows, you might get unexpected answers.

I'm also not sure about anymore. it seems like every day more and more of it falls apart. I will try to post here, but I would recommand following me on AO3 as well, under the name FeatherFang.

Thank you so much for being on this ride with me, and I really hope you all enjoyed it.

Till next time, DROH