Last City, Earth

Sol System

On the Wall where the Vanguard and Guardians have made their new base, Osiris stands and looks upon the Last City.

So much has changed. The Vanguard rediscovering a lost world with populations of Humans and Faunus. The Red War. The Traveler awakening. And not only surviving the machinations of the Vex, but according to some reports, the disowned son of Oryx and a Worm God on Mars. He sighed as he looked upon the Last City and then to the ruins of the tower. Workmen, both Human, Faunus, Awoken, Exo and even some Eliksni from House Light are hard at work repairing the damage done during the Red War. Even here, he could see the section where the Speaker dwelled. After giving numerous reports to the vanguard about the events on mercury, he gotten the chance to read up on what happened in his absence. Including the death of the Speaker. He and the Speaker didn't part on good terms, with the latter banishing him, saying his obsession with the Vex would doom all. He wondered what the Speaker would say now?

He heard footsteps behind him and turned briefly to see his former student.

"Ikora." He nodded to his student, now Warlock Vanguard.

"Osiris." She said with respect, the habit still there after so many years.

They stood together in silence watching the Last City. It was Ikora who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for what I did…banishing you…I could have fought to keep you here…I could have…" She was stopped when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked into the eyes of Osiris, having removed his helmet. Seeing his bald head, short beard and weathered skin, first time in a long time. She nearly forgotten what he looked like without his signature helmet.

"Ikora…I've forgiven you long ago. Sagira however still hasn't, but she'll come around eventually. You did what you thought was best for the city. And in a way it was. If I wasn't banished, we wouldn't have found out about the Vex's plans on Mercury, them infusing Light into their units, the bleak future, even this Disciple that they feared." He said reminding her of all the things that they stopped.

Ikora recalled all of that from the reports of both Lux Syphoid and Team JNPR and Prometheus-23, Ace-Ops, Penny Polendina and Anastasia Bray. Both groups on different worlds had either encountered some for of evidence of this Disciple. The former with the Vex willing to keep a small amount of humanity locked up in the Infinite Forest just fearing the future said Disciple wants, and the latter group obtaining a weapon from said Disciple. The weapon being a Glaive that is giving off high levels of energy that is confirmed to be Darkness related. After taking numerous scans, the Glaive now called Disciple's Flames was now being locked up in the now renovated Omega Level Vault along with the rest of the dangerous items and weapons best contained. Speaking of the Infinite Forest.

"I know that the destruction of the Infinite Forest must be weighing on you. All the things that the Vex had, hundreds if not thousands of years' worth of knowledge. But if Panoptes survived, they would have found a way to restart production on Light Infused Vex."

Osiris nodded and looked to the distance. "After I sent Sagira away, I was jumped by an Infused Minotaur. Barely made it out of there. I managed to hide in a Simulation that was one second out of sync with the others. During that time, I have studied the intricacies of the Infinite Forest and their connection to Panoptes. I found that with his death, the system would collapse, destroying all data. However, while the data is gone, the hardware itself is still there. All it would take is for the Vex to restart it and a new forest would come to being." He then turned to Ikora. "But that won't be for another six to seven millennia. And even then, twice as long to gather as much data for simulation to be even close to what it was before." He added assuring her. 'But its destruction was worth it to see Saint again." He said with a look of longing in his eyes. "We both have so much time to make up for." He said before walking past her. He turned to her a rare smile on his face. "For both of us as well, my friend." Ikora watched him go, a smile on her own face. Time enough to reconnect.

00000

All Vex units have a purpose. Some were just workers and architects, some were researchers. Some were Axis Minds to govern over large swarms of Vex. And some were weapon designers. And the Mind known as Protheon, Modular Mind was one of them. A Vex Mind of the Sol Collective stationed on Nessus, this gigantic Minotaur was made to weaponize all three elements in its weaponry and shields. If it were to encounter forces that shot it with Solar Energy, its shields would adapt along with its weaponry to counter it. The same could be said with Arc and Void energy. Counter and adapt. The vex Collective believed that after numerous tests, its adaptive shields and weaponry could be rolled out to every Vex in the universe. However, they failed to count on two enemies utilizing different elemental energies to attack it at the same time, resulting in its destruction!

It has been several days since their respective adventures on Mercury and mars. After giving their reports, they were sent to Nessus to deal with the Cabal mining here and attempting to take said Vex Mind for themselves. Hence sending in both Prometheus-23, Lux Syphoid and one other to deal with it. Sharing what they did with their respective teams from Remnant along with their discoveries. "So, you were a weapon obsessed student belonging to the Cult of Osiris." Prometheus-23 said after finishing off the Vex Mind. "And you were a soldier for Rasputin to fight and contain the disowned son of Oryx." Lux said, picking up several engrams and Glimmer that dropped from the Vex. "Just promise not to tell Summer about my past. I'll never hear the end of it. I don't want to go to weapon conventions daily, thank you very much!" She said. "Promise." The Titan replied. "Mums the word Miss Syphoid!" Guardian Gavin Free said as he finished dancing on the destroyed body of Protheon. The hunter of Fireteam Lads n Gents hand joined them as a form of vacation from his fireteam. He failed to notice a vex Goblin teleport in front of him, slap him in the face, sending him to the ground and teleport away with a handful of Legendary Engrams!

"Did that bloody Goblin just mug me!?" Lux couldn't hold in her laughter as it echoed through the large chasm that the Vex Mind was slayed in. No wonder his fireteam does this sort of stuff, its fucking hilarious!

00000

"So, you got temporary Light powers, fought Vex, rescued a legendary Titan and saved the day! So jealous! So far, all we did was bake cookies and sell some Warbeast pups to the locals." Ruby Rose said over the video conference. One of the many advancements in the last few months were upgrades to Remnant's CCT. Not just reaching each Kingdom, but to Earth and the Last City as well. After a few days of doing reports, Team JNPR decided to share their adventures with their friends. Weiss was busy and Blake was out with her parents, so it was only Yang and Ruby they've shared with. "Sounds like you guys had a yang of a time!" The others groaned from the pun.

"Yeah, we thought we were going to die numerous times, had little rest in between battles, but hey, it was a learning experience." Jaune said sipping iced lemonade. "Indeed. After doing these heroic things, Guardians have to make reports on what they did, enemies defeated, and gather intel for future operations in whatever region they did them. And apparently, it's the same for Huntsmen. Didn't know that." Ren muttered sipping the same sort of beverage. "Must be something upper years learn to do." Pyrrha said, enjoying learning new things to help her team grow.

Changing the subject, Ruby turned to Nora. "So, how was it wielding the Light! Were you all pow, wham, shapoopi!" Ruby asked making hand gestures and movements like it was a choreographed dance routine. Yang got her to settle down. "It was weird at first, but it after a while, it felt like it was always there. Just locked away." Nora replied. "The downside was having a voice in my head." She said nodding to Sagira who was present by her shoulder during the call.

"It's certainly different from Osiris. It's always calculations, gather intel, look for data packets. But with Nora? It either friends, pancakes, crazy story structure, or pancakes." She said spinning her shell. "Speaking of, when will this temp-bond be undone?" Ruby asked. "It can be undone right now." A voice said behind team JNPR. Said team turned behind them and saw Osiris waiting for them. "Got to go, we'll talk more when we get back!" Jaune said ending the call.

They turned to the approaching Osiris. He nodded to them in turn. "My thank Team JNPR, if it wasn't for your involvement, things may have turned out quite differently. The Vex would have made a future to their liking. And Saint…he wouldn't be here." His voice broke a bit at the last part. "Thank you."

The members of Team JNPR couldn't help but smile at the praise. "Rest assured, you will be…graded at your academy for your accomplishments." He then turned to Nora. "Miss Valkyrie…" "Nora!" She interrupted, stopping the Warlock. He sighed and smile. "Nora, I would very much like to be reunited with Sagira."

Nora smiled a bit sadly, knowing that this would happen. She'll miss having Light abilities and having someone in her mind to talk to. "Alright, so what do we do? Is there some sort of ritual, chanting…OW!" She said gripping her head after Osiris took two of his fingers and smacked her on the head. A flash of Light around her body shattered into pieces and Sagira flashed into existence by Osiris's shoulder.

"There. The Temp-Bond is now severed." Osiris said.

The others were a bit flabbergasted after witnessing such an event. "That's it? That's all we had to do the whole time!?" Jaune said, trying to make sense of it. "Yes. Only the original Guardian of said Ghost could do it." He said not understanding their confusion. Seeing Nora wishing to talk alone with Osiris, Ren led Jaune and Pyrrha away, telling Nora they will be at the ramen shop nearby.

"Sagira, it was fun having abilities like you Guardians for a while." Nora said looking up at the Ghost. "Indeed. It was a different sort of pace compared to Osiris here." "Hey!" "And the having been in your head for a while, seeing first-hand your feelings for a certain someone. Might I suggest, you give it a shot?" Nora took in the Ghosts words, having gotten to the same conclusion back during the fight against the Infinite Mind and the Oracle Mind. The things unspoken when she thought they were going to be erased. She turned to leave before turning back to them. "There won't be any side-effects from our Temp-Bond, will there?" "You'll possibly experience some lingering characteristics, knowledge you never had, cravings, the odd increase in strength and speed. It'll wear off after a few weeks. In theory." Osiris said, the only known example besides Nora was Shin Malphur.

Nora met her team by the ramen shop on the wall, getting their bowls of noodles or ramen. She sat by Ren as they ordered. They ate in silence before she turned to ren. "Ren, back in the Forest, when we were about to be deleted…a lot of thoughts swam through my mind. And I'm thinking it was the same for you. Right?" Ren starred at her, comprehending the meaning of her words. "It is." He said placing his hand on hers. "I think, it will be nice to give us a try." He said as they ate together.

Nearby, Pyrrha and jaune ate their meals. On Pyrrha's mind was something she and Jaune encountered when they were again ambushed by the Vex and sent to another Simulation.

How they landed in a Simulation of a house in the suburbs of Vale. Many years in the future.

Where she and Jaune are married.

Married with three kids.

Kids that somehow, helped them find a way out of the Simulation.

"Jaune…"

"I know what you're going to say Pyrrha. About what we saw in the Simulation. I won't deny that it was very appealing to me." He placed his hand on hers. "I would very much like to see if that future can be possible, if you want to?"

And so, the two couples of Team JNPR had their first dates together.

00000

Down in the Last City, Osiris walked the streets looking for Saint-14. As he walked, he noticed certain things. Places he once visited were now gone, replaced with new businesses. A bookstore he frequented several hundred years prior, turned into a hole-in the-wall SDC store selling Dust imported from remnant. A tea shop, now a soda shop run by a faunus. And an open mic place, still and open mic place now run by an Eliksni of House Light. He was still getting used to the idea of Fallen, sorry, Eliksni in the Last City. He still recalls a time he defended the city from them long ago as if it were yesterday. Now, people went about their business alongside them as if they have always been apart of it from its conception. Some people starred at him as he passed. Most were Guardians that have heard of him or worked with him during the early days of the Last City. Others were civilians of the Exo or Awoken variety. He came this way due to a rumor that saint-14 had returned, alive and well. Turning a corner towards a small park, he found his quarry.

He approached Saint-14 who sat on a bench, spreading birdseed to the swarm of pigeons that were feeding upon them. Some were more youthful in appearance for a bird, while he saw one or two that had seen better days. He believed that those were pigeons Saint-14 fed long ago when he was in the Last City before he left for the Infinite Forest. To look for him. Staying alive waiting for the Guardian who fed them to see him one last time before they died. The Titan saw the Warlock approach and sat besides him, the former continuing to feed the birds. For the next several minutes, they have been silent save for the coos of the birds around them.

It was Saint-14 who broke the silence.

"So much has changed."

"Indeed." Osiris agreed, seeing children and Eliksni youngsters play around with a ball that they were kicking around.

"So much has been gained, and so much loss. The Traveler awakening. The lost world of Remnant found and brought into the fold. So many losses. When the City needed me at its darkest hour, I wasn't here. The Speaker, gone." Saint-14 continued, no longer looking at the birds, but at the lively city around them. "He was like a father to me. And he treated me like a son. And now he's gone."

The ball from the kids game rolled towards the Titan's legs. A youthful Eliksni ran to get it, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the Titan pick it up. Its eyes widened in terror at the sight of the Titan. Said Titan froze in place at the sight of the small alien child afraid of him. Osiris acted and took the ball out of the Titan's hands and gave it to the Eliksni child. It then ran back to his friends, scurrying away on all six of its limbs.

The Titan sighed. "That is nit the first time I have gotten the look." He looked towards the direction of the City. Osiris looked and figured out what Sait was looking at. The Botza District where the House of Light was based in.

"After giving our report to the vanguard, on Ikora's suggestion, I took a stroll through the district where House of Light resided. I met with their Kell Mithrax. She warned him ahead of time. He gave me a tour of the place, showing me what they made of it. And I saw…terror on their faces. Even on Mithrax who kept his grip on his blades. They have grown up on stories of my exploits long ago. But they weren't heroic, but horrific. Every victory in my eyes was a genocidal campaign for them. They even have my helmet as a sigil to ward away evil. To be seen not as a hero, but a monster they tell their little ones… I don't want to be seen like that, not ever!" He said sorrowfully. Osiris, seeing his friend, his companion, the one he sacrificed his whole work for in such a state, broke his heart. He gripped the Titan's hand in his own to match his strength. "Then we will do it together." He said as they sat leaning their heads towards one another as they kissed.

Ting!

Osiris's lips connected to the Titan's helmeted head.

The laugh coming from both Osiris and Saint-14 could be heard for blocks.

00000

Fields of Glass, Mercury,

Sol System

On the Fields of Glass on Mercury, where the doorway to the now destroyed Infinite Forest still stands, a member of the Cult of Osiris was nearing the end of his mission. Not just any member, but Brother Vance himself.

Alone, he left the safety of the Lighthouse where the rest of the Cult resided, taking only a satchel with him, he left on a pilgrimage. The destination: the doorway to the destroyed Infinite Forest. As he went on his journey, he mumbled to himself.

"This is a test, isn't it? A test of your most loyal! You would never destroy something as irreplaceable as it, no you wouldn't!" He kept repeating that as a chant, a mantra. Not a few days ago, he got word that Osiris had left the Infinite Forest, destroying the infinite mind that dwelt within. He and the rest of the Cult had celebrated their leader's triumph. But they also learned that to destroy the Mind, the Infinite Forest itself would be destroyed as well. Some were confused, others grateful that a dark future was destroyed at a steep price. But not him! He knew this was a test! And he had just the thing to pass it.

Her continued to walk towards the doorway, still open to anyone who wished to enter. However, they would only be stepping into an empty void to fall for all eternity. He didn't bother bringing a weapon with him. With the Infinite Forest's destruction, the Vex no longer saw need to be here. And the Cabal, deprived of a valued resource, sought others and left as well. He approached the doorway, dropping his satchel. He gazed up at the doorway seeing it in all its glory despite being blind. A blindness which didn't hamper his journey at all, faith in Osiris was the only thing that guided him.

Kneeling down, he grabbed the contents of the satchel. In his hands was a material called Simulation Seeds. Small fist-sized corporealized matter that shot off from the numerous simulations within the forest. Occasionally, they would find their way here on the surface of the planet and provide peeks into what Simulation from within the Forest that they originated. During his time on Mercury, he collected dozens of them. It was only recently, that he decided to alter them. Combining numerous ones together into a single Seed, he decided to take a journey to the Infinite Forests doorway and toss the seed in.

So engrossed in his plan, he failed to notice his companions, invisible to all, even to him save for one of their voices.

"Just think of what Osiris will say when he finds out. This test that he initiated will prove your worth to him." She whispered in his mind, imitating his own voice so that he would think that it was his own idea all along. "He will be proud of you. His work can then continue."

"Yes. He will be proud of me." He said before stepping to the doorway and tossing the seed inside with a flash. The owner of the voice nodded to her companion which floated silently away through to doorway. The owner of the voice watched as Brother Vance left to make the return journey to the Lighthouse, awaiting his leaders praise. She smiled as her three eyes glowed green savoring the deception that she created. Her worm sated for the time being and her companion in place, the Witch Queen vanished.

Deep within the dark void that was the Infinite Forest, the seed that Brother Vance tossed in glowed bright in the darkness. It flashed several times before exploding outwards. What was once an empty void was now a newly made Infinite Forest. Complete with new Simulated Past, Present and Future towers. There were a few differences from the original. The towers and the pathways that came into existence were more vibrant than the original. Instead of dull Vex architecture, it was abundant with plants and trees, a true garden. And of course, the new Mind in charge of the whole place. It shook off its disguise and became its true self: Quaria Blade Transform. The Taken Vex Mind took its place where Panoptes used to be and began its work. Creating another disguise, ridding itself of its taken appearance, it looked like any other Mind. Enough to fool other Vex for the time being.

In the far reaches of the Vex network, all Vex felt that the Infinite Forest had been regrown and sought to continue their work. While this newer one was nowhere near the originals scope, in time, with a lot of work, it will be just the same. They appeared within the Forest, ignorant of the Vex mind now in charge. They began to continue their work, until they found out the final difference from the original. While the original allowed the Vex to add new data, manipulate the Simulation and redistribute it. However, while the newer one allowed them to add data, they couldn't do much else beyond that. Brother Vance with the aid of the Witch Queen manipulating him, had created the new Infinite Forest so the Vex can deposit data, but not touch what was within.

Thinking that it was an error on their part, they continued to add more data to the virgin Forest, the laughter of the Witch Queen echoing within.

A/N: First, I would like to apologize for how I wrote the pairing between the JNPR members. I'm not that good with the romance, so I hope it sits well with you. As for why I had Brother Vance recreate the Forest and gave Savathun control of it? For the former, Osiris may be done with his "curse", but it's not done with him! And Savathun, what better way to manipulate events than to be in the center of a vast web of possible futures.

Part 2 coming soon along with an announcement!