A/N: Took me nearly a month to recreate all of the chapters I made prior to my computer crashing. This one is much different from the original, hope you enjoy it!
Last City, Earth
Sol System
Nora sat on the bench as three Ghosts hovered around her head and did scans of her. Her teammates hovered nearby waiting for her prognosis. Two of the ghosts left her side and went to their guardians while the third one, the one called Sagira stayed by her side.
"I can feel your emotions through…whatever this is. What to talk about it?"
She shook her head, also sensing somehow the emotions going through Sagira through…whatever this was as well. She could feel confusion, worry, and another through this bond who was VERY far away.
"So, Nora has a ghost now." Jaune said trying to break the ice to the situation.
"From what our ghosts been able to tell, the lightning bolt that struck the Vex machine, combined with Miss. Valkyrie's Semblance created a temp-Bond." Ikora said.
"A Temp-Bond?" Ren asked. Neither he, nor the the rest of his team heard of this, nor had they had any class explaining this.
"It's a very rare occurrence when a Ghost, through outside means bonds not only with their own Guardian, but also an individual that shows the potential to become a Guardian. Through this bond, the individual will display temporary abilities that the Guardians usually wield, save for resurrection." Ikora explained.
"The only instance of this that I head was between Jared Ward and Shin Malphur." Lux finished.
The four were silent processing this information. They have met Shin Malphur during the incident at the Vytal Festival or as Ruby Rose would say, Uncle Shin since he was a VERY distant relative to her and her mother, Summer Rose.
"So, Nora has the potential to become a Guardian in the event that she dies." Ren summarized, seeing his life-long friend in a different way now. He wasn't the only one, Pyrrha and Jaune were also in deep thought. Sure, Nora had the potential to become a Guardian should she die, but she would have no memory of her past, and not only that, she will be young forever while those she cares about die of old age, if they survive that long through the ages.
"In the event that the original Guardian were to die via means that prevents their ghost from resurrecting them, that bond between the Guardian and Ghost will be severed and the Temp-Bond will become permanent. That is something we don't want. With Sagira here, she can assist in helping us understand what Osiris was researching along with what would possess him to send Sagira away." Ikora said.
Lux nodded and bid her group of four to follow. However, Nora stopped sensing through the bond that Sagira stopped to converse with Ikora. She tried not to listen in, but the bond allowed her to hear in a sense, not in words, but in feelings. She felt, anger, frustration, and a bit of betrayal.
Sagira puffed out her shell and flew back to Nora as they went back to the Jumpship motor pool.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Nora asked her temporary Ghost.
"I know you felt the same thing through the bond, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just find Osiris." Sagira huffed. Nora simply looked at her ghost and shook her head. Sagira also felt the emotions Nora through their Temp-Bond.
Disappointment and sadness.
00000
The group of five were soon back on Mercury, standing before a conical structure with a triangular doorway before them. Sagira hovered in front of it, beams of light shining from her eye.
"This is the way into the Infinite Forest. Just got to remove some of the dozen boobie traps and…there!"
Nora taking a breath stepped through the doorway, followed by her friends. They soon entered into a vast room filled with a beam of light high above them, large wheels and a pathway that appeared and disappeared every so often.
"This is the Infinite Forest? Doesn't look that much." Lux said glancing around.
"This is actually the 'debugging' chamber. A sort of waiting area between the world of Mercury and the Forest itself.
"Whose that?" Ren asked gesturing a being of golden light that wore the robes of a Warlock, but the helmet in the shape of a hawk and feathers around the neck. And this being wasn't alone. For other similar beings manifested nearby and up above, looking down on the newcomers.
"Those are Osiris's Reflections." Sagira said.
"Reflections?" Pyrrha asked, looking at them hesitantly.
"Yes." Sagira explained. "Sometime after entering the Infinite Forest, Osiris found a way to reverse engineer some of their secrets. One of them being their ability to create realistic simulations. Using that, he created numerous versions of himself to go and study other simulation and report back to him. He may be skilled, but he's still one man. And yes, having himself surrounded by numerous versions of himself is a bit egotistical of him, I told him that a lot."
They continued towards the Reflections. Said Reflections noticed them. "Sagira! You are not meant to be here."
"Well, too bad, I'm here! And I brought some help with whatever Osiris is doing here."
The reflection hummed in response. "So, I see. I must alert Osiris!" It said as it vanished. The group continued onward as they passed more Reflections.
"Sagira has returned, we must alert Osiris!"
"New simulations have emerged, we must investigate."
"Agreed!"
The group continued on to the end of the pathway, seeing a bunch of stairs that circled upwards, they followed, seeing more and more Reflections of Osiris as they went. They were even present when one Reflection split in half, creating new ones that went in different directions.
"When the Traveler awakened, its mere act created new branching timelines, some good, some neutral, and in some instances, bad." Said a Reflection to their left.
"Are you saying that the traveler awakening was a bad thing?!" Pyrrha asked as they passed.
"Not at all." Said a Reflection that was walking upside down through a doorway up above them, exiting through another that was in front of them. "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The Traveler Awakening caused numerous simulations to fail, their predicted outcomes no longer viable, which is a good thing. But at that same moment, some Simulations created something new which were bad." He gestured them to follow, stepping through the doorway.
They soon found themselves exiting a large structure hovering over an extensive empty space, three towers in the distance stood before them. Here and there, vex architecture like platforms, pathways faded here and there.
"Behold, the Infinite Forest! A large Vex structure made in the hollowed core of Mercury with one purpose: to create numerous simulations of the past, present, and possible future for the Vex to study so that they and only they can succeed." The reflection said, gesturing to the towers in the distance. "Each tower contains numerous simulations for them to study. Every simulation looks, acts and feels real for optimum efficiency!"
The group of five looked around them in awe. The second they took their first step down the stairs; they were soon propelled forward by an unknown force through many turns and flips.
"Don't worry, this is normal." Sagira explained. " The space between the three towers ahead and the opening to the surface of the planet is littered with an ever shifting labyrinth of pathways, walls and other obstacles. Just follow my directions and we'll be fine."
The group came to a complete stop when they were deposited onto a courtyard with several pillars stacked on top of one another. Littered all around, walking in a nonchalant manner were Vex units of the Goblin, Hobgoblin and Harpy variety; alone with Cabal Red Legion…and Fallen?
"What the…?"
"Those aren't real." Sagira said before vanishing into Nora's mind. She could feel the Ghost in her head. She spoke not only to Nora, but the others via their scrolls or the radio Lux's Ghost had. "Those are simulations that the Vex use to defend the labrynth pathways here. They look real, act real and their weapons are real. So kill them like you normally would. But be on the lookout for the Daemon."
"Daemon?"
"Special Simulations, they look like the rest, but way stronger. They also control the doorways within the labyrinth. Kill them, doorways open to connect to the towers."
Seeing the enemies around, they decided to get into the fight! Nora activated Magnhild in its grenade launcher form and fired at a group of Cabal, killing them. The bodies fell and were suspended before they hit the ground and shattered into bits of data. Ren fired at some of the vex untis. Some of them shattered into data, while the rest simply broke apart showing that they were indeed real. Pyrrha started to fight a group of Vex and Cabal, taking them out with a combination of her semblance and her weapon. When she used her semblance on the simulations, they would glitch and phase out briefly.
Seeing an opportunity, Jaune decapitated his opponent and shouted at Pyrrha. "Pyrrha! Use your semblance more!"
Sagira, who already got a brief rundown on the group's semblances saw where he was going. "Of course! The simulations act like a computer would if exposed to a magnet!" Nora ducked as a Minotaur tried to swipe at her head, she shoved it back as it tipped over the edge and fell into the endless void below. She then watched as Pyrrha used her Semblance on the Simulations, the enemies glitching and spasming. Some of them even folded in on themselves and shattered. Lux was also providing cover using a Pulse Rifle for long distance. After taking out a few Vex Hobgoblins, she decided to get a bit close and brought out the hand cannon she got from the Lighthouse, named Jack King Queen 3.
She brought the weapon up and lined up the sights. Then she lowered them, then rose them up again.
When she looked down the sights, all of the Simulations were pixilated grey entities, the Vex were their usual selves, and one Simulated Psion was a deep pixilated red. She decided to aim at that, killing it with a headshot. A bright light ahead opened up with a series of rings leading to one of the towers, this one white and pristine.
Lux smiled down at the weapon and thanked her past self. Her previous self must have found a way to sort out the Daemons from the other simulated enemies.
After clearing out the enemies around them, they jumped through the rings and were propelled through them. Nora whooped in joy feeling the speed and freedom of doing barrel rolls through them.
You seem to have a lot of fun. Sagira said in her mind.
"Oh yeah! Having us fight against Grimm, militarized space rhinos, and even mechanical robots that can manipulate time and whatnot, you take what fun comes your way!" Nora replied as she did a summer sault through the rings and laned on her feet before the gigantic doorway. The others soon followed suit with Lux, Ren and Pyrrha landing on their feet, while Jaune laned on his butt with a groan.
Their reprieve didn't last long when smoke and static appeared signaling the arrival of Vex. They prepared their weapons for another assault, but it turned out to be a Vex Descendant Harpy. It whirled its outer shell around its body and displayed its tendrils bathed in Solar Light.
"It's another one of those Light Infused Vex units!" Lux said bringing up her hand cannon and fired, prompting Pyrrha and Ren to open fire while Jaune provided cover for Nora as she reloaded her grenade launcher.
"Light Infused Vex?!" Sagira shouted manifesting by Nora's head, ducking as the Vex unit fired at them.
"Yeah, we've encountered a few Vex units infused with Light and manifesting Elemental Light in a few of their weaponry. You not encountered them?"
"Never! This is entirely new!"
The vex unit, tired of getting shot at, extended one of its tendrils and spun around itself. After picking up speed, it whipped its tendril towards the group, creating a wave of Solar flames that head straight towards them.
Lux, Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha managed to dodge, while Ren barely did. The sleeves on his shirt catching fire briefly, his Aura shimmering to keep the damage minimal.
Nora saw red at that moment. No one attacks her best friend and gets away with it!
With a yell, she charged at the vex Harpy. But then something happened. As she ran, she could feel energy coursing through her body, sort of when she got struck by lightning or by Lightning Dust, empowering her. She felt herself going faster and faster towards her target, shifted her weapon into its hammer form, swung and hit the Vex Harpy right in they eye. The eye shattered instantly followed by the rest of it. A brief flash of Light appeared then faded.
Seeing the harpy destroyed, she fell to her knees, tired. Ren and Jaune ran to her to check on any injuries she sustained, but found none.
"What the Hellmouth was that!?" Lux said starring at nora. The way the pink-haired girl charged at the Vex Harpy was identical to the way Titan Guardians charged at their opponents channeling their Arc Supers.
"I think we got a glimpse of one of the temporary abilities from the Temp-Bond. In this instance, channeling Arc Energy." Sagira theorized.
"And Nora does exhibit the strength and headstrongness of a Titan. So it would make sense she has the potential to be a Titan and manifest abilities similar to one." Lux finished.
Seeing no other threats, they made their way to the doorway and found a waiting Reflection.
Sagira approached it. "These Vex infused with Light. Is that the reason why Osiris sent me away?" She asked.
"The Infusion of Light within certain Vex units is part of the reason, but not THE reason. In order to understand the reason, you need to see how it began."
Jaune sighed placing his weapon in his scabbard. "Getting real tired of these obscure responses." Lux passed him and patted him on the shoulder. "Welcome to interacting with Guardian Warlocks."
They soon entered through the doorway and found themselves in a field filled with golden grass as far as the eye can see. Trees here and there in shapes they have never seen before with lavender leaves. Their eyes widened seeing this beautiful landscape. A Reflection appeared before them.
"Welcome to mercury's past. After terraforming Mars, the Traveler came to mercury and made it into a garden paradise. Fields of wheat and other exotic plants littered the landscape where the farmers of Earth would harvest for the masses."
The Reflection gestured to the sky. They craned their necks upward and saw that gigantic cylinders made of the metal they recognize as being affiliated with the Vex.
"What you see now is Mercury mere weeks after the event known as the Collapse. The vex arrived and planted the first root that would be the Infinite Forest. And gave birth to the Vex Mind in charge of it; Panoptes the Infinite Mind."
A doorway appeared behind the Reflection as it stepped through.
"You have seen the past and the present. Now bare witness to the future the Vex plan to make for them."
They stepped through and found themselves exiting the tower and soon found themselves back in the endless expanse of the Infinite Forest. Another pathway, this time a series of rings led to another of the towers; this one desolate and crumbling away. If the large and pristine one contained simulations of Mercury's past, this one led to the future.
They all soon jumped through the rings, feeling the energy pushing them along. Nora looked to her left, her eyes widened from what she saw.
Sensing her confusion and shock, "What? Did you see something?" Sagira asked.
"I thought I saw…never mind." She could have sworn she saw herself, her team, Lux, and another going through a series of pathways leading towards the tower they were heading. But that can't be right, there's no way there would be two of them at the same time, right?
They soon stepped through the doorway and entered a nightmare.
"Behold, the future Panoptes plans to create for the Vex. A universe where there is no Light nor Darkness. A universe that only the Vex inhabit." Said the Reflection of Osiris.
They stood in the center of the Lighthouse, debris and desiccated corpses of members of the Cult of Osiris littered the tower. A section of the wall caved outward giving them a glimpse of what laid before them. The sun, once so bright, now dead giving no heat. The landscape barren and devoid of anything. Even when they knew it was a simulation of a potential future, they could feel the harsh coldness of lifelessness. Pyrrha held onto jaune's hand tightly, with the latter not caring, shocked at the display before them. Lux eyed everything with distaste. Ren, normally the stoic of the group had a tear coming down his face with his mouth open. And Nora felt disgust and vowed to end this.
"This is what Osiris saw." Sagira said, taking numerous videos of the scene.
"Indeed, a future Panoptes plans on creating. And it is within its grasp."
Their view of the desolate landscape was interrupted when they felt the tower beneath their feet shake. On the horizon, they saw one red light, then two, then more. The entire landscape was soon bathed in red eyes far onto the horizon and beyond. To their horror, they saw that each of those red eyes belonged to a single Vex unit. There were a lot!
Their view was soon blocked by a gigantic Vex Hydra with mechanical arms and digital wings on its back.
"It's Panoptes! He found us…" The Reflection of Osiris was soon grabbed by the now named Vex unit and was soon crushed in its grip. The Reflection shattered into golden light which was soon absorbed by Panoptes.
The five readied their weapons to try and fight it, but Panoptes had something else in mind.
With a wave of its gigantic hand, portals opened up. One opened at Ren's feet and he fell through, closing as he completely vanished. Pyrrha, Jaune and Lux Syphoid charged at Panoptes, the latter activating her Nova Bomb. Panoptes manifested another portal that absorbed her Nova Bomb, then with a wave of its hand, sent the portal speeding right at the three. They vanished through it as the portal closed, the end-bit of Pyrrha's hair was cut off just as it closed.
Nora looked around, panicking seeing her friends vanish. She took a step back.
Nora fell backwards through the portal and landed down the stairs and hit sand. She looked around herself, thinking she tripped, but saw the sunlit sky around her, vex architecture and the open doorway to the Infinite Forest before her. She was back on Mercury.
"We are definitely back on Mercury, not a simulation of-Nora!?" Sagira stopped her explanation as Nora shifted Magnhild into its hammer form and charged at the doorway. Only to be repelled by a barrier and tossed back down the stairs.
Again and again she charged at the doorway. Time and time she fell. She then went and slammed her hammer on the doorway to try and break the barrier, but it would not budge. She then tossed the hammer down the stairs and hit the doorway with her bare hands.
"Stupid-doorway! LET-ME-IN!" She shouted as her fists connected with the door.
Through the bond she shared with Nora, Sagira felt her Aura flare up with each hit of her hands. At the rate she was hitting, her Aura would be shattered in a few seconds.
"Nora, stop! You're not helping your friends if you continue like this!"
"I-wont-stop-till-I save-my friends!" With each word she hit the barrier. When she finished the last word of her sentence, her face hit Jaune's face!
"OW! Nora, what the hell!" He shouted as he brought his hands up to his face to stop the bleeding! Pyrrha, right behind him helped dab his nose. Nora stopped and looked on in shock as her friends and teammates emerged from the doorway followed closely by Lux Syphoid. The two looked a bit battered with a few minor wounds, with Jaune having a silver sidearm on his right side holstered. She ran and embraced Pyrrha and Jaune in a hug, lifting them off their feet.
"Nora…can't…breath!"
"Nose…broken...ribs…cracking…"
She lowered them down.
"I can't believe you three are alright."
Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other then at Nora. "Three?"
Nora looked behind them and saw one of their number missing.
"Where's Ren?"
Pyrrha and Jaune looked to one another then back at her. "We thought he was with you."
Nora's mind went through loops as she drowned out the noise and looked to the doorway that led to the Infinite Forest, the place where her best friend in the whole world still resided. In the peripheral of her sight, she saw Sagira hover near her face.
"Don't worry Nora, we'll get him out of there." She said soothing her temporary Guardian. She could feel the waves pf emotion from the temporary bond they share.
"Not to mention our new friend will help us out." Lux said gesturing through the doorway.
Nora and Sagira watched as another being walked through the doorway, dragging a Descendant Vex Goblin by its foot. The being was a Guardian Titan in silver armor, ribbons of purple cloth hung here and there in the joints and gaps of the armor. He was wearing an exotic helmet on his head. Without looking behind him, he unholstered a shotgun and shot the vex unit behind him without looking.
Sagira's eye widened in recognition.
"Greetings friend Nora. I am Saint-14, known as the greatest Titan that ever lived. Your friends saved my life. It would be my honor to help you rescue your friend."
A/N: I decided to incorporate aspects of Season of the Dawn into this. In this fic, I plan for Saint-14 to be a teacher for Nora during her temporary time wielding Light abilities.