Once More Unto the Breach II

He was bored. He was too busy to be bored. There was too much happening for him to be bored. As if that's ever stopped anything before.

Shino's Ghost, Amir, zipped past over his head, an expert in keeping himself occupied. The sun was high, people moved back and forth outside and Shino couldn't be bothered to join them. Imagining images on the ceiling was his entertainment. He couldn't afford to be choosy.

Mira wasn't in the City. Wanted some time for herself before "work" pulled them back into the fray. The last he had heard, she was roaming around Western Europe. Prime Fallen territory. He was more concerned with the safety of the Fallen.

Christine was home. He'd be in her home too if she wasn't so busy herself, working on something she hadn't adequately explained to him. Snooping around would serve as some mode of entertainment but she knew him too well and he was becoming predictable; she banned him from her home for the time being, correctly claiming him as a distraction. And May…

They don't spend much time together anymore. Not when Mira wasn't there. If he was being honest, the only time he really saw her was in training or the Iron Banner. She wasn't one for bars, she wasn't the loud, partying type he was known to be. She didn't drink with them.

Shino sighed and began to reach under his bed. She didn't drink with him, he corrected. His eyes track Amir as he flies past again. He's barely been able to talk with her without it devolving into an argument. Assuming she didn't find some way to blow him off entirely. She was adamant in her defense of Aro and Shino, he didn't even like thinking about him. Thinking of Aro led to thinking about his brother. Then Marie. Then the Moon. How his throat hurt from yelling. How his eyes burned from how much he had cried that night and the morning after.

The emotions were already welling up in his throat, as painful and choking as they were the very first time he woke up in a world without his friend. The alcohol burned it all away; The grief, then the thoughts that caused the grief, then the ability to even think.

He wasn't there yet, unfortunately. "Do you ever think about it, Amir?" The Ghost paused, as if Shino could catch him off-guard. "Do you think about it? That we met Pride before anyone else?"

The Ghost slowly turned towards him. "I think more about what he was doing down there," he admitted, "Whatever we walked in on, he wanted us dead for."

Shino ripped the top off with too much force, grumbling darkly, "He got one of us." He puts the bottle to his mouth, the aroma so potent, it wrinkled his nose.

"He nearly got all of us."

Shino rips the bottle away and struggles to choke the liquid down, hacking at the fire in his throat. "No," he snapped, "He did get all of us. Years of training and he got all of us as easily as he had the first time. Then he just let us go. Again."

Amir's eye runs the expanse of his face, drifting closer. "You shouldn't drink alone."

Shino already had the bottle to his mouth, pulling it back and coughing again. "You're here."

He sighed, "You know what I mean." His eye suddenly shoots up, as if surprised. Then it lowers and he moves closer. "Put away the drink."

Shino had his arm over his eyes. The noonday sun was starting to glare. "Baby someone else, Amir."

"Your uncle is calling."

Shino lifted his arm enough to reveal one open eye. He gave a thin smile. "Don't know why that requires me to stop drinking-"

"Cause I am not translating your slurring again," the less than amused Ghost shot back. Shino chuckled then sighed, sitting himself upright and capping the drink.

"Video call?" He asked, rolling the bottle underneath the bed.

"Audio only. Patching him through."

Seconds passed before another voice replaced Amir's. "So he deigned to answer," it crowed. Shino could almost see the grin on his uncle's face, heard it perfectly in his words. Happier to speak to him than most people are as of late. Happier than he will be tomorrow if the drink had anything to say about it.

"I am a very busy man, uncle," Shino greeted, sinking deeper into the mattress

"Fame keeping you occupied?"

"Autographs to sign, a few fans to let fawn over me."

"In a bedroom?" He asked, "Behind a closed door?" His uncle clicked his teeth in disapproval. "And here I thought you were better than this. Will be a shame when Christine finds out."

"Alright, alright, you win." His uncle laughed. "How did you know I was in my room?"

"Your Ghost told me."

"So you cheated."

"Just a bit." He chuckled again, "How are you, Shino?"

"Bored, if I'm being honest," he admitted.

"Don't you have a team? Where's Mira?"

"Europe."

"The Warlock? May?"

"Err, well, busy. Research and all that." Her avoidance of him wasn't something he was ready to admit to.

"And the rest of your clan?" He asked.

Shino shrugged limply for an audience that wasn't watching. "Equally busy." Again, all he was willing to admit.

His uncle hummed. "Well, you've always got a place here, if you want it."

"Thanks, uncle."

"Have you visited your mothers?"

"Not too recently but I call." Shino swung legs over the bed. "Hey, um, you said I could come over?"

"I did."

He stood. "And...Uncle Dev's off, right?"

"His only day off," his uncle answered. "I smell shenanigans."

Shino already had a pair of pants on. "Tell him I'm coming, if you like. He can flee. I'd track him down either way."

"You stop that. Devrim will be happy to see-'

"Tell him, uncle." Amir ducked away when Shino's arm flew out from the opening of a shirt. "Make it a threat if you like."

The other line erupted in laughter. "Alright. It'd admittedly be fun to see. Ride safe, Shino."

The line cut. Amir's gaze followed him as he stepped around. "Do you want me to send a message to the others that you're heading-"

"Don't bother." Shino pulled the white hair covering his eyes back and tied it. Satisfied, he opened the door and strode out. His gait wasn't as unsteady as it would've been in earlier days. At the same time, things were becoming harder and harder to forget. Where drink didn't serve, a distraction could. And he needed it. He couldn't be alone with his thoughts right now.

"That coffee shop downstairs, near the entrance." Shino weaved his way through the sparse crowds. Amir kept over his shoulder. "They still have that tea Dev likes?"

"Last I heard."

Shino rounded a corner and was met with sunlight. Gentle for the most part but harsh to his eyes, having spent so long in the darkness of his own room. The Speaker's tower within the Tower blocked out most of it and Shino quickly moved into its shadow so he could see.

Amir promptly disappeared. "Shino. To your right."

His head turned until his Ghost made him stop. Then he took a breath. "Aro." He looked closer. "With Hideo?"

They were in a corner overlooking the western wall and the City below. Eating and talking. At least Hideo was. Aro wasn't a talker.

Erek told him what Pride had said the very first time they met him in the Vault. To Aro. About Aro.

"You do not get to blame that all on me. The rage, the loss of control, the violence. My presence may be bringing it out of you but all of that is you, Aro. It was you. It was you. It's how you always were when we were young. Blunt at best, brutal at worst."

"This...new...supposedly kinder you, it's unfamiliar. Almost jarring."

Aro was timid. He was quiet, reserved. He hunched over, never standing at his true height. It took life and death situations to get him to even raise his voice, let alone yell, rant, scream. That was the Aro he knew. The Aro he's always known.

Pride's brother was hard and cruel. Pride's brother brought about the worst calamity their people had ever faced and didn't even have the grace to remember. If only Shino was so lucky.

He had dreams about Pride for years. He never saw the face, nor the eyes. It didn't matter, that wasn't what made Shino so afraid the first time. It wasn't how he recognized him the second time. It was the pressure he exuded. All the Heralds did, like a hand around the back of your neck. Pride was more than that. He wasn't a hand, he was a boot; not around the back of your neck. The front, along the windpipe, pressing down. Aro never felt like that.

Until he did, if Erek or Daniel were to be believed. When he first went into that berserker state that had him raving and roaring incoherently like some kind of monster. Breathing blasts of fire hard enough to blow away stone and creating Void Light singularities strong enough to rend metal. The only comfort Shino took was that he was mindless. Don't set him off and you'd be fine. If not, stay out of his way and you'd be fine.

But he was in the room when Cayde and Ikora were reviewing Ghost footage from the Reef's Prison of Elders. A training regimen the Queen had put Aro's and Daniel's teams through. How Aro stood tall and square before the charred remains of a towering Vex Minotaur, eyes shining white with a roiling ocean of unbridled, barely contained power…

And smiled.

That was no monster. There was a man in there, conscious, in control and relishing in the destruction he could unleash on a whim. Rage and violence. Blunt and brutal. That was Pride's brother. That was Aro. And it wasn't Shino's fault if the others refused to see it. Who else needed to die before they did?

Hideo stood and took Aro's hand, departing the table with a firm shake and a smile. Aro watched him leave before turning in Shino's direction.

Their eyes connected for the briefest of seconds. Shino didn't let it last any longer. He simply turned his back on him and continued on his way.

Z's typing fingers stopped. "Could you not do that?"

"Do what?"

"That," he said more forcefully, gesturing at Crona's face.

Her eyes swiveled side to side. "Do what?!"

"That! Staring at me!" Crona scoffed but turned her gaze elsewhere. After taking in the sights of her brother's office, as she had a hundred times before, she turned her eyes back to him. He scowled deeper now, aware she was doing it on purpose.

"You never really explained what you were so busy working on."

His eyes came up once again, narrowed this time. "Are you serious?" He asked, incredulous.

"...Should I not-"

Z struck a few keys on the board before him and gestured behind her. Crona turned at the sound of a screen on the wall turning on. The video was a recording, taking place outside in the dead of night. The sound was turned low and the sight of a roiling crowd told her why. People shouting, chanting, holding signs, struggling against the assigned security attempting to keep them in place.

"People are protesting the murder again?" She asked.

"Did you really think they stopped?" Her brother shut the screen off, leaning back and rubbing his eyes, his bright white hair beginning to spill into his face. "The Exo's name was Colm. Colm-14. Well-liked in his community, by his neighbors. All in all, a good man. It's why his death is causing such a stir. If this isn't the last straw, we're approaching it."

Crona hummed, turning to look at the screen again, as if she could still see the protests despite it being off. She never imagined the scale of the problem. she supposed she should, given what Wrath(A) did because of it. "Did authorities get a motive?"

"Drunkenness."

"He tore that man to pieces."

"Excessive drunkenness," Z sighed, "And there are people who accept that."

Crona looked him over, taking in the tight lines on his face. "Z," she said.

"What?" He didn't even look up.

"Z."

"The fuck do you want, Crona?!" Her eyebrows shot up and he looked down again, murmuring a quick apology.

"I was going to ask when was the last time you took a break but I don't think I need to ask. You never curse."

He opened his mouth and then closed it again with a sigh. "I mean, even father lets one out every now and again," Crona went on, her lips curling upwards, "Never in front of Cayde though. He'd never let him or Ikora hear the end of it."

"Not in front of you either," Z said, giving the first smile she had seen from him in a day, "Never in front of his little girl."

She laughed at that, leaning back in her seat far enough that it began to tip. "Oh, the first time it happened. You should have seen the shade of purple he turned." She wagged a finger at him. "Reminded me of the time you were brought your 'study partner' home and he walked in-"

"We don't talk about that, Crona."

"You don't."

"That's not funny," he said, even as his grin widened.

"...To you." Crona picked up one of the loose sheets of paper on his desk. "Have you spoken to Saladin yet?"

"No, I haven't."

She gave him a look. "He's been here for weeks."

"I know that." His fingers started moving again, hitting their targets with impressive accuracy even as his eyes were on another datapad, one of many strewn across the large work desk. "I've welcomed him and all but I'm busy, he's busy-"

"He mostly just stands there, refereeing matches."

"And we have nothing to talk about." His left hand moved over to the keyboard as his right hand swiped away a current page and brought up another. His fingers paused for just a second. "I'm not a Guardian, Crona."

Crona sucked her teeth. "That doesn't matter, Z."

"So you say." He was no longer paying attention. His mind had returned to Colm and the protests and the rest of the Consensus and their own issues. It annoyed her, in all honesty. If only most of these people knew what was out there, what was coming for them and how woefully unprepared they were for its arrival.

"What has father told you? About what we're dealing with now?" Crona began to fiddle with the paper in her hands, not entirely aware of when she had balled it up.

"That it's called the Black Garden," he answered, "That Pride wants it. And that some parties of the Consensus are taking note of your increasing activities."

Her head shot up. "He never told us that."

"That's because I'm telling you, Crona. Right now." A flick of his hand closed another page on his dashboard. A second one brought up three more. "You've spoken to Lakshmi?"

She wasn't going to ask how he found that out. "Father and I are working on a project. Rebuilding a weapon. She has one of the key parts."

"Has she given it to you?" Z asked.

Crona shook her head. "We haven't gotten that far yet," she admitted, "She mentioned talking later but no time, no date. And I haven't heard from her since."

His bright blue eyes rolled almost into his head. "She wants something. That much should be obvious," he told her.

"Never thought otherwise."

"Be careful what you give her. Be careful what you tell her." His fingers stopped moving. One hand came up to his mouth, his eyes squeezing shut. "Look. Not all of these people are so concerned with their own ambitions, disregarding everything else; I try to be proof of that. But too many still are."

"They know who my father is. They know who you are. What could they try?"

"You'd be a target, Crona," he said, "But not their only one. There's Aro. There's Asura."

Crona let a long stream of air out of her nose. "So watch them?"

"And yourself. But they haven't lived in this City long. Not as long as you."

"Pfft. Babysitting."

"It's not 'babysitting'. It's looking out for your team." He leaned back in his seat and gave her a grin, bright and toothy. "'Babysitting' is what I'm doing now." Z flinched when she lobbed the balled up paper at his head. "Look at that, I'm cleaning up after you-"

"I'm leaving." She stood.

"Dealing with your tantrums…"

"I'm cleaning out your fridge," she yelled from the doorway.

"Feeding you too!"

Crona hit the light switch on the way out, leaving him crowing indignantly in the dark.

"Is this really the best idea?" Kain directed him to the location given, Aro's directions changing with his instructions.

"You ask that a lot, you know that right?"

"You don't do smart things very often."

Aro physically opened his mouth to respond when he saw a man rise from his seat and wave him down. "I'll respond after we're done here."

"Is that how much time you need?"

Aro had to squint in the sudden sunlight but still had his hand outstretched. Executor Hideo took it in both of his, in a grip that was firm and disarmingly gentle. "Lord Aro, very good to see you again. Glad you can make it." He took his hands back and gestured to the table behind him, "Please sit. Make yourself comfortable."

Aro did, rounding the well decorated, overall well-prepared table and pulling out a seat. Hideo had chosen nicely, well within view of the City below and with a good amount of sunlight with the Speaker's tower to block out most of the wind; a tower devoid of the Speaker, Aro had noted.

"I take it I picked a good place?" Hideo pulled his attention back. Any feeling that he should apologize for letting his mind wander away was disarmed with the easy smile he was being given.

"You did. It's nice." Someone came up from behind him and placed a chilled glass before him, filling it with water.

"You don't spend much time here?" Hideo nodded his thanks to the server when he received his own.

"No. I'm usually only in this wing to see the Speaker."

Hideo hummed and looked out over the City. Without the hat obscuring his head and the formal clothing, Aro could just almost see the family resemblance. The same dark hair, dark eyes and small nose Daniel and his siblings shared with their father. Not something one would take note of without prior knowledge. But there was a reason none of them spoke of Hideo. That reason was anyone's guess. As well as when and how Aro would discover it.

"What about out there?" Hideo, reclining in the chair with one leg crossed over the other, nodded towards the expanse of the City.

Aro watched with him. "No," he admitted, "But I wish I did."

"As you should." Hideo took a sip from his glass and placed it down again. "It's always better to know the people you serve. And to let them know you."

Aro resisted the urge to shift around at the second part. "Saint-14 did it as much as he could. He'd walk the streets, visit vendors and shops and parks. Every child's game that needed a referee, any elderly struggling with their groceries, every person who looked as if they could use the company, Saint was ready and willing to give it."

"Crona's told me a lot about him," Aro said, "The Speaker too."

"But on the other hand, Osiris?" Hideo shook his head with pursed lips, "A notorious recluse. We would go months at a time without hearing or seeing hide nor hair of him, civilians and Guardians alike. Though I suppose after that mess with the Vault and with Pahanin and Kabr, it would be hard to come back from. I don't blame him for never doing so."

He sent just the two of them into a Vex stronghold, Aro recalled. At least, that was the story. The story that inspired the mandate of three to a fireteam at all times. Aro knew differently now.

Hideo brought up his hand, intended for someone behind Aro. Before Aro could turn again, an Awoken woman was setting down a large tray with two steaming plates of food before them along with a collection of utensils, napkins and filling up their glasses before she bade them enjoy and leaving.

Hideo wasted no time digging in. "Can I ask you something, Aro?"

Aro's flicked up from the food. "I'll try my best to answer."

"It's about the Vault."

"Ah…"

"Kabr never returned," Hideo explained, "Pahanin did. And whatever he saw in there...broke him. He was never the same."

"I don't blame him," Aro replied, just a bit too much on the side of quiet.

"You and your team went inside, got through and made it out the other end. With Kabr's dead Ghost in hand, no less. If you're willing, I'd like to know what you saw."

A mess. That was what he wanted to answer whenever anyone asked. A damned, ugly mess of such terrifying ingenuity, it could've easily been something out of a bad dream. "The Vex...they're as advanced as they seem. Even more so, if I'm being honest." He wasn't but there were a lot of people outside of their circle who simply did not need to know.

"Any examples?" Hideo pressed. Aro guessed that he knew Aro was hiding things.

Aro sighed and sank into his seat. "There were these creatures. Vex Harpies that wandered a large expanse of land-"

"There's land in there?" Hideo sat up straighter, much more alert and focused.

"A lot of land. Caverns, caves, hills. The Vault moves its space outside the bounds of conventional time and space," Aro explained, "At one point in our journey, our Ghosts examined the light that was streaming in from the outside. They came to the conclusion that the emission patterns were different from the ones we know."

"A different star?"

"Maybe. Or our own billions of years before humanity even existed. There was no real way to tell."

Hideo's tongue darted out to wet his lips. "Huh." He huffed a small laugh, "That's something else, Aro. And these Harpies?"

"They wandered this area, seemingly in a pattern. The area had stone spires stretching several hundred feet high and similar ones hanging off the ceiling. One of those spires broke off and fell towards one of the Harpies."

"And it blasted it out of the sky?" Hideo guessed, "Or did it hit and not even faze the thing?"

Aro took in a deep breath. He could feel the same fear he had felt the first time he witnessed what they could do. "It looked up at the rock, it's eye flashed…" Aro's hands were spread out, as if he could show what happened. "And the rock disappeared."

Hideo blinked. "Vaporization? Some kind of spatial manipulation?"

"Not spatial, Executor. Temporal." Hideo blinked a few times before realization began to dawn in his features. "It looked at the thing and simply decided that it didn't exist," Aro said, "We called them Gorgons. And we had to make it through their maze without catching their attention."

"How did you?"

"We didn't. The process takes a long time though and hitting them hard enough stops it entirely. But we had to collapse the entire cavern on their heads before any of them could complete the attempt. We barely escaped with our lives."

"I see." Hideo ran a hand over his stubbled chin. "And could they deploy these against the City?"

"Not anymore," Aro answered before realizing what he had said. Hideo let out a soft bark of laughter. "But no. Outside of the Vault, they have little influence."

"Less now, after how you handled them." Hideo smiled and when Aro felt the urge to smile back, he didn't fight it. "I've seen your fights in the Crucible. It's amazing how much power you can dish out. I've even heard rumors you can breathe fire."

Aro chuckled. "There's some truth to it. I try not to do it often, it's pretty painful."

"Seems a bit difficult with a helmet on." He shrugged, "But I guess Kain can take it off."

"He tries but I've had to blow it off before." Aro pointed to his ears. "The rebound never feels good. Torn an eardrum at least twice now."

The Executor laughed loudly. "This has been enlightening, Aro. And entertaining. Truly." Hideo rose to his feet. Aro moved to follow but a gesture stopped him. "Please, finish. Everything's paid for and I've kept you occupied enough with the story. Again, I thank you for the time. Hopefully, we can do it again?"

Aro put his hand out and Hideo again took it in both of his. "I look forward to it, Executor."

"Hideo, please. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Aro."

Hideo waved down the server and with one more short bow, was on his way. His half of the table was cleaned within seconds, leaving Aro alone again. "Not as bad as you thought it would be, Kain," Aro thought out.

"He is very obviously buttering you up."

"By…" He looked down at the plate of food before him. "Buying me food? Talking to me like a person? Not staring at me like I'm some kind of monster? Whose fault is it that the bar's so low?"

"Not everyone treats you like that." Kain materialized over his shoulder and flew forward to face him.

Aro spoke aloud. "Enough people do."

A figure in the corner of his vision caught his attention. His eyes flicked over once before doubling back. By the time he had, the familiar tall and imposing frame and tied-back white hair had already turned away, quickly disappearing down the hall. Aro's hand began to curl until it was tightened into a fist, his eyes, wide and unblinking, remained locked in Shino's direction.

"You ever think of that comeback?"

Aro's eyes flicked over, fully aware of what Kain was trying to do. Slowly, his hand loosened. His shoulders lowered and every indescribable emotion building up inside gently escaped in the air through his nose.

"Give me the night. I'll think of something."

Eh, not too happy with this one. But if I waited till I felt it was perfect, you'd never hear from me again.