Prison of Elders, Sol System

He went through his rounds as he always did. He went through Cell Blocks A through B, keeping tabs on the Fallen from Houses long gone or the remnants of said Houses that still exist. From House Scar to House Rat. From the Sunless House to remnants of House Devils, Winter, Wolves and from the newest House of Dusk.

He then went through Cell block C which was WAY over crowded with Cabal from numerous Legions, many of which from the Red Legion. Then down through Cell Block D containing Hive of numerous sects. And finally, the unlabeled Cell Blocks containing Vex and Taken. All these Cell Blocks, containing the enemies of the system, each one forming their own gangs and cults.

And these were just the General population of the space prison/ battle arena called the Prison of Elders.

And he, the Warden of the prison, Variks the Loyal headed down to the cells which contained the heavy hitters. The ones that are the most dangerous. Those with cells of their own.

He went down the halls which contained said cells. Some were large rooms containing said individuals and their hangers on. Others, cells which were merely Cryotubes. He paused at one, looking at the occupant. The one that at one point was a contender for being the Kell of Kells, Skolas.

Skolas was a former baron of the now defunct House Wolves. Both delusional and cunning, he tried to unite numerous Fallen Houses under the Wolves banner. But then friend, Summer Rose came and stopped him by…well, suffice to say, he has an explosive bomb up a certain part of his anatomy. Now here he sat in the cell, quiet, defanged, and humiliated.

He then made his way further down the hallway, pausing when he was called by name.

"Well, well, if it isn't our favorite warden on his usual strolls. Sleep well?" Said the human from Remnant. Variks drew closer to the occupant, seeing the remains of his head ware, unkempt redhair and the handprint scar on one side of his face. Roman Torchwick was one of several dozen humans and faunus criminals sent from the lost, now found world of Remnant. While a lot of those were now currently dead after a single round in the Prison of Elders fights. A small percentage however, Roman among them, survived.

Variks sniffed and continued down his way. The criminal was right however, he did not get much sleep lately. Many had the same issue. Dreams of monsters and other unpleasant things have been plaguing some in the prison. Dreams of an unknown place or event on the horizon. Said dreams led him to this moment. That moment led to him being on the lower levels of the prison where the newest inmates resided along with their…children.

He made his way through the room, ignoring the taunts and mad babbling of seven of the inmates. Each of these occupants were at one time members of other Houses before they banded together. Due to circumstances, they were banished from those houses and found refuge on luna in the House of Exiles. That was until they were banished from that house.

Variks once wondered what one would do to be exiled from a house made up of Exiles. After hearing what they were up to, he got his answer. Destruction of Prime servitors, murder, pillaging, the list went on! These exiles banded together to form their own gang. It was thanks to Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and six others that rounded them up and have them languish here.

The eight and ninth cells he stopped at. He looked in on the one housing who he once considered a friend, now turned into the father of the things that resided on several of the floors.

"Come to see us, old friend? Father and I were wondering when you will be here." His old friend laughed as he nodded his crown-helmeted head at the one he called father. Said cell was small than the other occupants, but that was due to his species. While the others were fallen, this one was Awoken. And no just any Awoken, but royalty.

The Awoken man, pale skin with some…whispy dark smoke clinging to his neck raised his head up, amber eyes looking at the Warden.

"Sister, he comes at last. Most Loyal, you remember what I told you?"

00000

Two jumpships exited FTL and made their way through the asteroid field that is the Reef. A collection of asteroids and long dead ships which made up the territory of the Awoken people. Said jumpships flew over the largest collection that housed the Prison of Elders and transmatted their occupants. Vanguard Hunter cayde-6, now reinstated Guardian hunter Summer Rose, and her two daughters Ruby and Yang shook off the effects of Transmat and made their way to their destination.

After having a quick talk with their father, Taiyang and a permission slip from their headmaster Ozpin, Ruby and Yang were now tagging along with their mother to knock some heads in at a prison full of aliens. They have been off world before, during the whole red war situation that happen almost a year ago, yet seeing something that was not Remnant and was a new world never took away the wonder of it. They both looked around them at the numerous asteroids and derelict ships that served as both a history lesson of Earth's Collapse and the history of the Awoken people living there. They admired the ships slowly drifting in place, the haze of space dust mingling with the rays of the sun far away made this place stunning.

They stopped in their tracks seeing their guide waiting for them. Said guide was Petra Venj, acting Regent Commander of the Awoken People. She was an Awoken woman with short purple hair cut short in the front and sides, but tied up in a bun at the back. She had an eye patch over her left eye and wore regal attire of purple and gold armor that showed off her figure.

"Petra, hope you don't mind me bringing some back up." Cayde-6 said stopping short.

"Not at all. Welcome, Guardian Summer Rose. And Daughters of Rose." She said nodding to both Summer and to the two girls.

Cayde-6 and Petra left the three alone as they discussed the situation. Summer turned to her daughters and looked them both in the eye.

"Now remember what we discussed in the ship…" She began.

"We know mom. You and Uncle Cayde will be in the thick of it, while me and Yang stay towards the main entry way to keep any of the inmates from getting past you two." Ruby said.

"And we have full permission to bust some heads!" Yang said enthusiastically as she smashed her fists together, flames briefly manifesting in her hair as her eyes briefly went red instead of their usual lilac, signifying her Semblance briefly activating.

"Hey kiddo, just remembered…happy birthday!" Cayde-6 said as he nodded to Petra who unsheathed one of her blades from her holster and using her Awoken abilities, floated a knife to Ruby, who eagerly accepted it, used her semblance to speed at both while giving them a hug and saying thank you ten times fast!

Cayde then brought out his hand cannon; Ace of Spades, spun the chamber and loaded it up.

"Alright, we got ourselves a classic Cayde riff in 6, follow close and try to keep up." He then looked at the three with an enthusiastic grin. "Now let's go to prison!"

Ruby, Yang and Summer went through the doorway as Petra and Cayde-6 transmatted to adjacent entryways. The three found themselves on a long catwalk over a large chasm which separated the inner prison from the outside. In the distance, Ruby saw Awoken Corsairs and other Fallen on the other catwalks all around them. Likely from House Light or form outside contractors, Ruby figured.

As they soon approached the doorway that led into the general population section of the prison, a huge explosion occurred that sent them all flying and everything went black.

00000

Deep on one of the lower levels of the Prison of Elders, a large group of Hive Cursed Thrall escaped their cell and made their way down the corridors. Normally Thralls, even the Cursed variety, would follow their instincts and go straight to where the bloodshed was. However, these ones were going down corridors, ignoring fights, and even the odd injured inmate and going down a path with purpose. This group was known among the inmates as the Blistering Cyst; a large group of fifty Cursed Thrall with abnormal mutations on their bodies. Large pulsing blisters dotted their arms, legs and a little bit on their chests that glowed the same color as their heads.

When doors were open and all the inmates went wild, they were about to join in the fun until they were stopped in their tracks. They sensed a being that was very high in the Hive Hierarchy and went to work on her orders. Following said orders, they went down corridors, tunnels where rail transports for inmates would have run down, and even service tunnels.

They finally made their way to their destination.

In a room were several large servers humming with energy. These servers were the ones that helped operate the turrets in several places in the prison, the doors of several high-profile cells, transports in and out of the prison, and even the cryotube prisons. In the event of a cataclysmic system failure, all cryotubes containing inmates were to be jettisoned from the prison and sent to drift around the Reef until such a time they can be recovered when the Prison was re-established.

As they made their way to the servers, they failed to notice a Fallen in a black cloak sneak in and change something on the console. Quickly transmatting out, he was soon teleported to an asteroid a good distance from the one the prison was residing on.

Making his way on foot, he made it to his destination. On an outcropping was a regal Hive Wizard with an elaborate head and a cloaked human with his torso exposed. On the torso was a large growth with seven mismatched eyes gazing around him.

One of said eyes looked right at him and he felt the words of his god echo in his mind. Quickly, he knelt before him.

Are the coordinates set?

Taking several gulps, he responded. "Lord of Nightmares, the coordinates are set." He quickly got right back up and watched.

In the distance, explosions could be heard even from where they were. From numerous entrances, cryotubes were sent flying and rocketed off into the Reef.

Do it!

The Hive Wizard right next to him waved her hands and muttered in her language. In the distance, several dozen cryotubes glowed green and quickly entered FTL and sent flying to their new destinations.

The Hive Wizard lowered her hands. "It is done."

Good work Hashladun.

The named Hive Wizard bowed her head in praise from the Disciple before her.

In his host, the Disciple watched his plan unfold. Sure, he had to piggy back off of the accursed Witch's plan to cause chaos in the Reef and force the Prince's hand in opening the way, but the opportunity was too huge for pettiness. Now, the worst of the worst were now free and loose in the Sol System and beyond. With them loose, people will feel fear and despair. Enough for his plan to go forward.

Everything is going to plan! Echoed Nezarec through the minds of his associates.

A/N: And that is it, Happy Early Halloween/Anniversary! Some things to know:

Forsaken will be placed on hold till I am finished with Osiris and the Warmind. However, due to a combination of my hardrive failing along with the weirdness of the site some time back, four chapters of the latter fanfic, both originals and backup, were corrupted and lost, forcing me to redo them by scratch!

Now, I've included a feature about the Prison of Elders where in the event of heavy damage, the prison sends its occupants into prisoner transports and cryo-pods, jettisons them into the Reef to be recovered. BUT, thanks to Nezarec, those transports are now all over the system along with Remnant. Those prisoners are part of his plan. What's his plan? Not spoiling that! See ya soon!