"Alright, Guardian, I figured we'd be able to get things started by scouting out the cosmodrome," Ghost stated with a hum in his voice. He floated back and forth across the cockpit of their ship. Guardian followed his partner's movements as he relaxed into his seat, "That means we are going to search every nook and cranny and hopefully not draw too much attention to us in the process."
Guardian nodded and cast his gaze off to the right, "So, what do you know about the cosmodrome?" Ghost turned to face Guardian, his singular eye blinking and his shell rotating.
"Well, I only know that it was once a launch site facility, primarily for extra-solar colonization efforts," Ghost explained as he turned around slowly, "Which means that a lot of what you saw out there when you first awoke were…." He trailed off slowly. It didn't need to be said; Guardian picked up on the meaning and where Ghost was headed.
"Yeah," Guardian wondered why, out of all the remains outside the cosmodrome or within, he had been chosen to bear the Traveler's gifts. Why him? The world's sound drowned out as Guardian's guts twisted and churned; he wasn't worthy of the power he was given. Guardian lowered his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, the embarrassment he felt when he lost his first crucible match, the onslaught of death Nivá had brought onto him.
All because of his stupid ego. Who was he? What made him so different from all the other remains that he ended up as his ghosts' partner?
Guardian swallowed the salvia building in his mouth and raised his head, and he noticed his ghost focusing on the comms console, "Hey, what's going on?"
"Hmm, I am getting a transmission from the cosmodrome; wait, scratch that, I am getting two! One's from the Fallen, and the other is from a secure Vanguard channel," Ghost stated before static emanated from the console, "Hold on, let me just. Ah hah! Take that, you old hunk of junk!" The console static faded as an unfamiliar masculine voice came through.
"Hello, who is this?" The voice asked the faint sounds of a firefight that acted as a backdrop to the voice.
"We're with the Vanguard. A new light and a nameless ghost are here to help," Ghost responded. Guardian glared at his partner for not consulting him and referring to themselves so degradingly.
"A new light? You're kidding me- Puta Madre!" The voice exclaimed, the sounds of the firefight intensifying as he shouted a few more words in a language unfamiliar to Guardian; as soon as the firefight began to quiet down, the unknown voice spoke once more, "Alright, if you're the help we're going to get, take these coordinates, and get your ass over here pronto! Die you fucking pendejo's!" The voice cut out after that. Ghost attempted to reconnect but found the channel to no longer be active.
Ghost spun back to face Guardian, "Well, they need help, and you're the guardian for the job, ready partner?"
Guardian sighed and slipped on his helmet. He looked at his ghost and spoke through the helmets audio system, his voice holding a filter now, "You know next time we should put this to a vote," The world began to dematerialize, and Guardian felt himself moving from the seat of his ship, and to the ground. The world came back as he transmatted to the ground, the sun's warmth hitting him as he surveyed the cosmodrome environment.
In the far-off distance, he spotted the eruption of explosions as bolts of arc energy launched off into the air, followed by the sounds of the action reaching his ear, "Alright, guardian. We're going to take a slight detour. Some guardians set up a vehicle grid; let's set ourselves up with a sparrow, shall we?" Ghost stated as a waypoint pointed off to the left on Guardian HUD, the waypoint rested on a small shack on an overlooking hill, "Get moving!"
Guardian ran, noticing that no Fallen was trying to attack him like last time; it seemed like his fellow guardians had the Fallen preoccupied. He couldn't help but smile at that; if the Fallen were busy, they wouldn't expect a surprise reinforcement.
Guardian approached the shack and headed for the marked console, he opened his hand, and Ghost materialized before scanning the console; after a second, Ghost flew right back to Guardian and dematerialized.
"I hope you don't mind learning on the fly how to drive," Guardian said nothing and stepped out of the shack. As he stepped out, a sparrow materialized right in front of him—a fresh off-the-press sparrow stock white sparrow. Guardian hopped onto the sparrow leaning forward and holding onto the handles as his feet sat against the pedals.
Guardian tensed up, and his body tingled. His core churned as he gripped the handles of the sparrow tighter and put the metal to the pedal. He swallowed tightly. The sparrow shot forward, and he leaned to turn in the direction he wanted; avoiding a rock face, he turned again and headed under a bridge that led to a small crossing next to a drainage pipe. Heading up the hill, and was met with the overarching sight of a plane graveyard and the battle. Many corpses lined the field, Fallen of House Devils dead on the ground, and equipment torn up and piled up on the ground.
Guardian activated the booster on his sparrow and accelerated in speed.
Only for a Fallen skiff to fly right over him and drop one of their walker tanks on top of him, Guardian took mere seconds to react. He jumped off right at the last second, using the force of the action to propel himself off to the side and land on his ass, away from the walker, then crushed his sparrow.
Guardian heavily panted as his head snapped to the turning walker, its main cannon aiming at him, its barrel starting to glow as it charged up its shot. Guardian stood up and charged void energy in his left hand, only for, in the next second, a crash of arc energy to slam right into the walker forcing the machine to collapse and explosions to erupt across its hulking frame.
On what had been the head of the walker stood an all too familiar sight, "You? Are you fucking serious?" It was Nivá, her armor scorched and pocked with damage; she jumped off the walker and charged right at Guardian. Instinctively he flinched and closed his eyes, expecting death to greet him, only for it never to come. Instead, Nivá pushed him aside and shoulder charge a group of ten fallen, the arc energy atomizing the dregs.
Nivá turned around and approached Guardian offering out her hand, which Guardian took, only for her to pull him up so quickly that he almost felt his arm was about to be ripped out of his socket, "Don't make me regret saving you," Nivá bluntly stated with distaste, she let go of his arm and rushed off to the right, "Keep up!"
Guardian unholstered the Khvostov from his back; he pulled the charging handle back before letting it go and followed after Nivá. They moved together into another part of the plane graveyard, a group of thirty fallen, composed of ten dregs, ten shanks, six vandals, and four captains all shooting at a large metal crate.
Though their attention broke from the crate and snapped towards the two guardians approaching from behind, Guardian took the high ground flying up into the air and landing on top of the rusted-out frame of an ancient aircraft. His shields flared up as they took the brunt of the arc energy fired at him.
Nivá was undeterred from the shots slamming into her; even when her shield popped, she went charging in, grabbing a dreg by the throat before throwing him into a vandal with such force that neither got back up. She turned and violently punched off the head of a vandal brave enough to charge with its knife.
Guardian opened fire from above. He strafed from left to right avoiding damage where he could. He kept his rifle trained on one of the captains making sure to whittle down his shield until the field of blue energy popped. He followed it up by channeling void energy into the palm of his left hand and hurled a void grenade toward the captain.
The grenade detonated in front of the captain, but the captain dodged the explosion using advanced technology to teleport from his current position to a few feet away from the destructive energies of the void. It allowed the captain to begin firing back at Guardian with its weapon, flames launching towards Guardian.
The other three captains also turned their sight on Guardian, their weapons opening fire in chorus. Guardian jumped back flying through the air; as he did, a figure jumped out from behind the crates that were once being shot at. The figure raised its right hand upwards as solar energy channeled into it, forming a golden gun. The figure snapped its weapon onto the four captains, firing four times. Streaks of hot solar energy ripped through the air penetrating all four captains and disintegrating their bodies into nothing.
The remaining twelve Fallen broke off and began to retreat; the figure dissipated their golden gun and stepped calmly forth. The hunter was a head taller than Guardian, and his armor was standard for a hunter. It was primarily colored a forest green with red accents; the hunter pulled back the hood of his cloak and pulled off his helmet, holding it at his side.
"Hey, I recognize you… you're the pendejo that Niá beat the shit out of," The hunter's skin was a shade of light green with a tinge of blue, his eyes held a glow to them, the iris's white, his sclera a shade of grey. He had a thin, trimmed mustache perched on his lips, framing his strong jawline. The hunter's hair was brown and curly, reaching down to his shoulders and holding a greasy gleam to it. His build was athletic, not overly muscular.
Guardian observed the hunter, noting he was of awoken descent. He didn't know much about the Awoken, but from what he heard, they were distantly related to humanity, "Yes…." He answered unsurely.
The hunter smiled and stepped closer, "Well, I am glad you showed up."
Ghost appeared over Guardian's shoulder, hovering between the hunter and Guardian, "If you don't mind me butting in, what exactly were you two up to?"
The hunter chuckled and glanced at Nivá, "Well, the Speaker put out a request for guardians to check out the Skywatch here in the cosmodrome. Apparently, some weird ass shit is going on here; we just happened to have reason to come here too," The hunter flipped his helmet up and placed the smooth surface on the tip of his pointer finger. He then spun his helmet on his finger, "So that's all there is to it."
"What reason did you have coming here before that?"
The unnamed hunter looked to Nivá briefly, who shrugged and flicked his attention back to Guardian, "Eh, private business. Besides, why were you coming here?" He made a small gesture towards Guardian.
Guardian paused momentarily before answering, "My ghost and I were going to do patrols, and well, I was resurrected outside the cosmodrome." It felt natural to be out here in the cosmodrome; he wondered if that's what all Guardians felt like when they were first resurrected in whatever place they found themselves.
"Joy," Navia spoke flatly.
The hunter turned to face Nivá and shook his head, "Oh come, Nivá, he can fight at least. It'll help out as we make our way up the hill. Fallen are fortifying the hell out of that place," He then pointed up to the Skywatch building, only for a pair of skiffs to fly overhead carrying walker tanks.
Guardian watched the skiffs fly by as Ghost spoke through their shared comms, "They've been moving a lot of heavy equipment. Wonder what got them so invested here?" It was a decent question; indeed, no treasure trove of technology was buried in the cosmodrome to Guardian's knowledge.
Guardian placed his two cents, "It might be a reaction because of us killing their archon? The devils are maybe trying to consolidate the cosmodrome?"
"Maybe, they have been around this place for a long time. Weird that it is just now the activity here is picking up," Ghost stated, "Anyways, looks like they are done talking, should focus on those two now."
Guardian switched his attention to the duo, "So, you don't have a name, yeah? The hunter asked, and Guardian nodded back.
The hunter shook his head and slipped on his helmet, "Mmm, that's a problem. Gonna be hard doing anything with ya. At least you're a Warlock. We gotta get yourself a name, man," He offered out his hand again, "Anyways, I am Alejandro."
Guardian took the hand and shook it firmly, "Guardian is what I go by right now," He did have to admit it was embarrassing not having a name. Guardian felt tempted to just go by Guardian forever, but part of him knew how pathetically lazy that was. Then again, did he deserve a name in the first place?
Alejandro tapped the side of Guardian's helmet, "Yo, pal, are you focusing? We should get moving and up the hill. Fallen are waiting, and we are not getting any loot. So that means you aren't getting any loot either," He pushed his right pointer finger into Guardian's chest to emphasize his point; he then turned to the left and summoned his sparrow. His sparrow was a sleek black with a symbol of an eagle sitting on a cactus; its talons held a snake.
Nivá followed behind her sparrow, matching her armor coloration, and instead of sleek, it was jagged with armor plating bolted on spikes that jutted out on the back end of the vehicle. Guardian wanted to say it belonged in a dumpster just from looking at it. It made him question Nivá's tastes.
"Come on, pendejo!"
Guardian kicked it into gear, summoning another stock sparrow; he couldn't help but think about how he needed to get himself a sparrow that looked cool, "Alright, let's do this!" He shouted as the three raced off to get up the pathway on the hill; it was short as they stopped outside the skywatch's courtyard entrance. Said entrance was guarded by a walker tank, three captains, twenty dregs, and 30 shanks, some of which had glowing balls strapped to them with netting.
The unofficial fireteam of guardians strode into combat; Guardian confidently rushed forth, chucking a ball of void energy at the walker tank; the energy exploded harmlessly off the massive walker. Its cannon turned and aimed at Guardian, who jumped into the air and landed behind the slow-moving walker. He went straight for one of the captains swapping to his shotgun and point-blank firing into its chest.
Guardian's shields popped though as the automatic fire from the shanks hit him, and the armor of the captain he shot took the brunt of the damage, allowing said Fallen captain to backhand Guardian onto the ground.
Alejandro flanked from the right. He rolled his primary weapon, a hand cannon named The Devil You Know, and was pulled out halfway through his roll, so as he came out of it, he fired off four shots into dregs. Two of the dregs fell to the ground while the remaining two stumbled back; what little armor the captains wore protected them from the impact of the rounds.
Nivá followed behind Guardian. She went for the distracted walker tank and slid under it, arc energy coursing through her right hand as she punched into the bottom of its head with enough force to briefly make the tank stand up. It collapsed back on the ground on top of Nivá; its head extended out from the torso exposing the core component of the machine. Four dregs gathered around the walker, expecting the guardian to revive next to them; instead, a vaguely head-shaped dent formed inside the wreckage.
A loud thud rang out, followed by another and another, the dent extending forward until the walker exploded, sending shrapnel flying into the four dregs as Nivá stepped out from the burning wreckage unscathed. She cracked her neck and strode forward into a few of the shanks.
The Fallen captain grabbed Guardian by the neck, squeezing tightly around his neck and glaring at him. Guardian gritted his teeth and channeled void energy into his hand, the captain noticed the action, and its eyes widened beneath the helmet. In a second, the energy detonated, consuming the Fallen in a wave of purple energy, leaving nothing behind but sending Guardian flying off.
Guardian landed on the ground hissing in pain as he slowly got up, only to find that he was surrounded by six shanks strapped with those glowing orbs. Then just as quickly said, orbs began to glow, and the last thing Guardian heard was the detonation of explosions.
Guardian materialized before Alejandro and Nivá panting, crouched low, his eyes wide beneath his helmet, he looked around. He noticed all the dead Fallen and stood up straight and coughed into his right hand, "So, I know what the glowy ones do," Guardian said with a half-hearted chuckle.
"Heh, first time for everything, my nameless friend," Alejandro approached the door to the skywatch; he opened the palm of his hand, "Alright, Sancho, do your thing," A ghost materialized in his hand and flew up to the forcefield and began to scan the mechanism.
"Hmph, I could've done that," Ghost jealously commented through Guardian's comms. Guardian rolled his eyes and looked around the complex's exterior; the skywatch, despite the passage of time, having worn the building down and exposed loads of rust and decay, still looked like it could survive a beating and then some. Though strangely, Guardian could see what looked like a barnacle through one of the building windows. And what looked like a claw gripping it, he shook his head and squinted, retaking a look this time seeing nothing holding onto the barnacle.
Just then, the forcefield preventing access to the skywatch opened, and Guardian snapped his attention to that; he followed behind Alejandro. While the exterior of the building remained intact, the interior of the Skywatch had suffered dramatically through the years. The concrete floors mostly eroded into dust, with vegetation beginning to grow inside, and what powered lights remained flickered on and off. Parts of the floor itself had caved in, exposing rebar and wires.
Guardian hopped over the small ledge behind Alejandro as their ghosts sat above their shoulders, acting like flashlights. As they rounded through a small hall into another room, Guardian felt a sensation rush over him; he stumbled and leaned against the wall, the air he breathed in feeling off… wrong.
It was like a presence was bearing down on Guardian's very being.
Alejandro paused and turned around to face Guardian, "First time?" He offered his hand, and Guardian took it as he got a footing and adjusted to the presence.
"What is this?" Guardian spoke; he felt like he was about to choke. That the life would be wrung right out of him if he misstepped.
Alejandro sighed, "Pal, you're in a darkness zone; your light is being choked up a bit. You'll get used to it, though." He let go of Guardian's hand and moved into the next room while Nivá nudged Guardian from behind to get moving.
Guardian followed into the next room; he paused next to Alejandro and surveyed the room; it looked like a terminal to go deeper into the facility, and a console stood off to their right, and on the right wall itself looked like two massive powerboxes. A metal gate blocked their way forward, "What does a darkness zone do exactly?"
"It's a pain in the ass; your ghost will have trouble reviving you, have friends with you, or don't die if you go into one," Answered Nivá as she placed her hand on Guardian's shoulder and passed him, walking up to the metal gate and crouching down and examining the locks holding the gate in place, "Bah, can't bust it down they really made this gate to lock, any bets on why they kept this locked?" She turned her head back to the remainder of the group as she stood up.
Guardian gave a shrug, and Alejandro said nothing; instead, he strolled over to the panel next to the gate, and Sancho deployed, scanning the device.
"I'll have to override the lock," Guardian gripped his weapon tighter, "The Fallen didn't want to have anyone get through here; I am not sure why, though."
"But why go through the trouble of locking the place down? Or sending in more skiffs with heavy equipment?" Alejandro turned to Nivá and then glanced back at Guardian, "Amigo, you better be ready things might get dicier from here on out."
Guardian gave a courteous nod and stood behind Nivá, the hydraulic mechanism holding the gate in place hissed and came undone, allowing the metal gate to slide up and out of the way. What greeted them on the other side were mounds of barnacles with glowing crystals jutting out of them, two fresh dead dregs, a captain, and ominous green with a tinge of yellow lighting emanating from a lantern on a chain. Guardian tensed as he stared at the sight and looked to his senior guardians.
"Hmm, strange shit, you don't see this every day," Alejandro commented as he walked up to the body of the captain and kicked it over, revealing its torn-open chest and the claw marks that had ripped into the metal of its helmet, "Poor bastard died painfully, what could've made this? Any idea, Nivá?"
Nivá examined a dreg, her hands tracing lacerations around the throat, and lifted its right hand showing the knife it clutched tightly, "This one died by a blade, suicide," She gestured to the other dreg, "That one has bite marks. Whatever they found made one of them off themselves while its buddies got mauled," Nivá stood up and rounded the corner, "Come on, we'll find what lives here and crush its skull."
Alejandro and Guardian moved to head up the stairs with Nivá, the only light they received from their ghosts as they passed a mound of barnacles with dark wispy smoke emerging from it, "This is all too familiar," Ghost spoke up.
"Really? What does this remind you of?" Sancho asked.
"The moon," Ghost stated in a cryptic tone.
"Can't be; we've left them and the moon alone ever since…."
An uncharacteristic fear overtook Ghost as it spoke, "The Great Disaster, but what if they decided to invade? We barely know anything about them," Ghost hung closer to Guardian as the group made it up the next flight of stairs and into a room; there were pillars and machines, most of all, though were more dead fallen.
Alejandro flipped over the body of a vandal, its helmet off to the side, and clicked his tongue; the vandal's face had been mauled off, "Rest in peace, pendejo, " He would've made the motion of closing the alien's eyes, but those currently weren't there.
"Giving a send-off to the fallen?" Guardian crassly asked; he found it almost funny considering what they had fought prior.
Alejandro turned to face Guardian, his body language shifting, showing that he found some offense, "Hey, my nameless friend, at the very least, they deserve to die with a bullet to the face," He then gestured to the corpse, "Not whatever this was."
"Quiet, both of you," Hissed Nivá as she kept her assault rifle trained ahead of them, the sound of metal clanking and clacking as something moved in the darkness outside the view of their lights, followed by chattering. Guardian's eyes watched his radar, keeping an eye on the red bar as it moved around and split.
Just that moment of distraction allowed, whatever it was, to flank his left and jump onto him. Guardian came face to face with a beast, a snapping set of jaw and razor-sharp claws that he barely held back with his rifle. The creature had no eyes on its face, only a smooth dome, its teeth covered in layers of saliva as it was hungry. A loud bang caused Guardian to flinch and close his eyes, but the beast that had pounced on him stopped moving, thrashing. He opened his eyes to find the beast's head with a hole blown through it; he rolled it off and got up, dusting himself off.
The beast was about his size, with grey skin. Carapace? He wasn't sure, but it had a skeletal figure, "What the fuck-" He didn't even get a chance to speak as howls and a screeching cry reached his ears.
"It's the Hive!" Sancho yelled.
"They've got a Wizard!" Ghost added in a panicked tone.
Glowing eyes took prominence in the darkness, the howls drew closer, and Guardian readied himself for another fight. The horde of new foes poured into the room into their lines of sight, and their weapons fired off. The thin skeletal, almost frail-looking Hive moved in packs. Guardian prioritized taking them down first when they swung at Nivá; their claws glowed blue.
The Hive drew in closer as the glowing set of eyes perched on the platform ahead. They fired purple energy darts towards them; their shots landed against Guardian's shields. The impact dispersed as Alejandro moved forward, firing off shot after shot from his hand cannon. The Hive with weapons had three glowing eyes, and their carapace was a distinct crimson as their lipless mouths gnashed in excitement.
The hordes of lesser Hive dried up as Nivá moved up, and Guardian followed behind as they ascended upwards and into the next room. The light from their ghosts faded away as the room they entered was lit.
The room was split in two with the armed Hive moving through crates, and off to the left, through another metal gate floated a Hive wizard, the decrypted Hive floating up in the air cloaked in robes, its hands raised as it spoke in ancient tongues creating fields of black poisonous smoke that chipped away at Guardian's shields, slowed him down. It felt familiar as if he had experienced sensations like this before.
"Kill! KILL THAT WIZARD!" Ghost yelled over comms.
Guardian stumbled inside the cloud; he couldn't move fast enough, and his shields were being eaten away; unable to see, he stumbled about in a mess of movements. Panic overwhelmed his senses; he felt the world beginning to fade away. He heard a voice or something crying out, trying to speak to him. His mind trembled as the foreign sensations wafted through his very being.
"..W.e."
"..r..u"
"...ru.."
"..I.."
"...L.v.."
Guardian did not know what he was hearing, and it sounded like words like someone was trying to reach out and talk to him. Who or what, he wasn't sure, but it felt vaguely familiar. But as soon as it came, it faded, and he chalked it up to nothing more than his mind crumbling under the stress he was feeling. Mental fatigue was eating away at him; even if his ghost could fix that, it came back under the current circumstances.
The smoke dissipated, and Guardian fell onto his side, his gloved hands scrapping against rusted metal as he looked around in confusion, "W-what?" He turned his gaze to the metal gate and saw Nivá standing above the corpse of the Wizard. Something within Guardian churned as he stared at Nivá; he frowned, stood back up, and approached the titan, "What now?" Nivá turned to her right, Guardian's left, and pointed to the room next to them, where the faint sounds of a firefight emerged.
"Exit through there, find out what the hell is going on, and exfill out of here. The Vanguard needs to know what the hell is happening out here," Nivá calmly pressed her foot into the head of the dead Hive, busting open the Wizard's skull as she strode towards their objective; Alejandro approached from behind and gave Guardian a pat on the shoulder.
"I want to let you know, amigo, you're doing pretty okay," Alejandro spoke with a supportive tone. One could hear the smile on his face, "Don't get your panties in a twist 'cause you get beat up a lot, alright?" He attempted to make a joke, but Guardian ignored it and only glanced at the hunter before brushing him off his shoulder and following the titan out of the Skywatch complex.
They entered a raised overlooking the many launch sites of the cosmodrome, and Guardian gave it a subtle glance taking that mere moment to see the breathtaking sight of such ancient and hulking behemoths that remained standing, having stood the test of time and acting out as a beacon in a wasteland of what once was. But just as quickly, he returned his attention to the problem at hand, following Nivá, who sat on the roof of a nearby building, flew up and got next to her.
What Guardian saw made him tense up; over in a nearby building was a ship impaled through the building into the ground itself. Its sharp black edges and points are much like the lantern he saw. And outside of that ship, through an open hatch, were hordes of Fallen and Hive going at each other over the wreckage of destroyed Fallen equipment and dead bodies of Hive and Fallen alike, massive hulking abominations with a singular mass of an eye that fired streams of purple streams of energy at their foes.
The cannons from the walkers fired and smacked into the hulking giants sending them reeling back in pain, deep howls echoing throughout the battlefield. Fallen captains engaged in sword duels with Hive equally as giant as the captains, if not more so; their carapace looked like it was built for sword duels, to take the brunt of the blade and allow them to follow through with their strike. A few of these sword-wielding Hive, reminiscent of knights, even held shields of some kind; they used them to block the shots from the Fallen captains.
Wizards hung back in the air watching their foes slaughter themselves against their entrenched position. They cast those smoke clouds as before but occasionally threw blasts of arc or solar energy toward their enemies. The sounds of their projectiles screaming through the air and melting away flesh and bone from unlucky dregs. In contrast, armor boiled on the vandals. The sound of more skiffs approaching drew Guardian's attention upwards, and he saw more walker tanks attached to the bottoms of the vehicles as they hovered over the battlefield before the mechanized tanks dropped from the craft.
They kicked up dirt as they landed but fired in sync with the two tanks present. The forces of the Hive were ripped to shreds, but they kept coming, "They're going at it hard. Good for us," Nivá spoke calmly; she stood up and dusted her knees off, "We need to get going. This isn't our fight. We'll be good to go as long as the Fallen and Hive are pre-occupied."
Guardian swallowed down the saliva that had built in his mouth; he looked up to Nivá and then back at the firefight, "Who's going to win?" Both enemies of humanity were duking it out, and he was curious to see who would come out on top. Part of him didn't want to know. A sick part of himself did wish to know, however.
Alejandro spoke from behind, "The Hive, most likely, the Fallen, can only keep up the pressure so much… None of us here were present for La Gran Reconquista, but I remember hearing about it long after it happened… Those puta madres don't fuck around," Alejandro turned his gaze to the sky, and Guaridan followed where he was looking. The sun had already begun to set, showing the moon cradled above, "You've seen that weird deformity on the moon, right?"
Guardian gave a quick nod of confirmation.
"Yeah, well. Those Hive fuckers made it during La Gran Reconquista."
Guardian's stomach dropped at the thought when he had first seen the moon of Earth; he had been curious about what had caused the deformation on the moon. It wasn't a round crater but looked more like a scar or if some had crinkled paper. He wondered if it was some golden age accident or a product of the collapse. To hear it was the Hive made a chill run down the length of his spine; just what the hell were these beasts capable of?
"Enough chatter, we need to head back to the city," Nivá interrupted as she began to transmat out of the area; Alejandro followed suit, and Guardian followed not long after either.
/.\./.\
It was quiet in the cock pit of Guardian's ship, and his ghost said nothing as it hung silently in the air. Guardian sat firmly with his hands clasped together. His mind was deep in thought, leaving him little to say or work with. He wanted to talk to his partner about what he saw or heard down there but couldn't. It was just so much to process. Guardian let out a deep sigh, brought his left hand up to the bridge of his nose, and rubbed it.
Just when things seemed to be going well again, he felt finally somewhat remotely useful and making up for his mistake. Everything had to take a turn and spit at him. Guardian felt useless as if he was worth nothing but dirt. Down there on the field of battle, he barely proved himself. He was more of a hindrance to the other two guardians present; despite what Alejandro said, he barely did a thing. He couldn't even kill effectively.
Guardian was a slurry of mixed emotions and conflicting thoughts.
Guardian thought back to when he was first revived and how he tore through the Fallen; he thought back to when he fought to get his ship's warp drive. Where had it gone? Where had his killing instinct gone? Where had it gone? Was it just a fluke? Had his ghost simply been wrong the whole time about him? Guardian stared at both of his hands and then thought about the fight he lost against Nivá; he had received stares from some of those that had heard about and heard laughter from some fellow guardians. His hands began to tremble, and he clenched his fingers tightly into fists and bit down on his lower lip.
Guardian's gaze flicked to the flight stick of his craft. He took a deep breath and resisted the urge to take control of the jumpship.
It wasn't long until the unofficial fireteam landed back at the Tower, Alejandro and Nivá racing towards the Vangaurds office while Guardian lagged, taking a moment to look around and noticing a temporary stall set up on the Tower. He looked at the sign next to it with the label Ken's Astronomy, and his curiosity peaked, and he took a step towards the stall.
Guardian looked at the astronomy book he bought and transmatted it to his ship. As he stepped into the Vanguard center of operations, Zavala, Cayde-6, and Ikora Rey stood at one end of the long holo-table examining battle footage from the fight down in the cosmodrome. In contrast, Nivá and Alejandro stood on either side of the table, calmly waiting. Guardian said nothing and observed the reactions of the Vanguard leaders.
Zavala was patient, calm, and collected. But even then, he could see how his brows furrowed in worry. Cayde-6 was impassive; he gave no discernable hints of his thoughts, but his eyes focused intently. Ikora expressed concern over the footage; she gnawed on the bottom of her lip, and sweat ran down her face.
"This is…" Zavala finally broke the silence, "Troubling," He paused the footage and looked up to meet the gazes of the unofficial fireteam, "The Hive on Earth… We left them and the moon alone, and yet they still came. Why?"
Ikora stepped back, one hand placed under her elbow while the other hand rested on her chin, "We should've expected the Hive to never be content with just having the moon," Ikora countered, turning to face the other two Vanguard leaders, "It was a fools' errand to believe they would only stay on the moon."
Alejandro leaned onto the holo-table and glanced back at Guardian as Zavala continued to discuss, "But why now? Why the cosmodrome? Are more Hive lying in wait to strike out in the wilds?" He made a sweeping gesture to the window overlooking the wilderness outside the City's safe walls.
Cayde stood straight between Zavala and Ikora, a finger raised, keeping them both silent, "Well, I can't tell you why they're here but have either of you considered what the scouts we have on the moon have been up to?"
Zavala and Ikora stood silent for a minute before Zavala leaned in and pressed something on the table. A list of logs came up, all reports from a day ago to months to years, "They've been radio silent…." Zavala spoke dreadfully.
The Vanguard leaders began to discuss amongst themselves, including Alejandro and Nivá in their discussion, asking questions. While Guardian stood silently watching, he was not once invited to join in on the conversation, giving weight to his opinion on the matter. Slowly, Guardian began to step away from the meeting, turned around, and headed back the way he came. His ghost chimed in as he did, "What's wrong? Why did you leave?"
"I wasn't needed, obviously."
"You don't know that…."
"What more could I have added?" Guardian transmitted back to his jumpship and found himself back in the craft's cockpit; he relaxed back and then reached forward, starting up his jumpship.
"Where are we going, partner?" Ghost appeared on his shoulder, looking at him curiously; Guardian did not answer as their ship readied itself for take-off, "Partner, where are we… going?"
"Ghost, can you tell me what you know about the moon?" Guardian didn't look at his partner as he flipped a few more switches and grabbed the pilot stick.
Ghost floated back, his eye widening curiously, "What? Why?"
"Answer the question."
Ghost let out an irritated groan, "Well, alright, fine. But you need to tell me where we are going after this," Guardian kept tight control of the stick as the ship took off.
Guardian glanced at Ghost and nodded, "Alright, good. Well… First, long before you were revived and long after you had died, The Vanguard attempted to retake the moon in one massive offensive, so many guardians had been gathered and deployed onto the moon to take it back for mankind… But," Ghost glanced to the floor of their ship, he spoke more sorrowfully, "The Hive were more than we could've ever expected. I wasn't there, but I heard the stories and saw what came back. So many Guardians died final deaths. The Hive took and ripped the light from them or tore apart their ghosts," Ghost shuddered as he recalled everything he could remember.
It piqued Guardian's interest enough for him to follow up with a question, "They took the light from guardians. Why? What could a race of bug people do with the light, why did they take it, and how did they take it? What did they even do with it?"
Ghost gulped, "Well… From what I heard, they ate the light or turned into something wrong… It was so bad, but that wasn't the worst of it."
"It got worse?"
Ghost nodded as his shell spun freely, "Yes, they had well… A demigod or something. It was called Crota and he was massive… Huge, he killed Guardians without taking the light from them; his blade was destructive… He's the reason for the scars on the moon, each swing he took caused the moon to shake. Crota oozed power, and that is all I could tell you. After that, the Vanguard launched a massive retreat and barred anyone unauthorized from going to the moon. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. We thought it would work, but well, you saw that today," He turned to look up at Guardian; if he had any way of expressing his mood, he would've been frowning, "Now, where are we going?"
Guardian calmly pulled back on the pilot stick, the craft going upwards, "The moon," He bluntly answered.
"Oh, okay, I thought you were about to say we're going to the moon," Ghost let out a chuckle, but it soon slowly faded as he looked out the window; noticing the vacuum of space, he spun around suddenly his eye wide, and his shell spreading apart, "WAIT! THE MOON!" Ghost panicked and muttered senselessly, "The Vanguard will have my head on a pike… Wait, I don't have a head! They'll strip me of my shell and put us in lockdown!" He floated back up and yelled in Guardian's face, "Do you know what they do to ghost's like me in lockdown? Oh, Traveler, do you know what they do to pretty ghosts in lockdown? Please turn this craft around now before The Vanguard finds out!"
Guardian placed a hand on his ghost and pushed him back, "I already made up my mind," He stated in a firm commanding tone, "You can't stop me from doing this."
"Oh no, you can't give me that!" Ghost floated before Guardian, staring him in the eyes, "You are going to turn this ship around now!"
Guardian pushed Ghost aside, ignoring him again, "I've made up my mind, and I am going to check out what's going on the moon," He paused before turning to look at his partner, "I promise you that I won't be getting into any firefights with the Hive. Alright?" He gave an affirmative stare to his partner in crime.
Ghost nervously muttered and groaned, "F-fine! B-but the first sign of any Hive danger and a firefight that brakes out, we're heading out and getting you back to The Tower, " He floated right up to Guardian's face before fading away, "Just be careful, alright, partner? I don't wanna lose you."
"You won't," Their ship's warp drive hummed as it prepared its short jump to the moon; Guardian tightened his grip around the pilot stick, the hums of the warp drive growing louder and louder until his ship shot forward into FTL.
The outside of the ship was now enveloped in a fold of bright, beautiful colors, Guardian's ship moving faster than the speed of light itself. Guardian let out a breathtaking sigh as he took in the sight of the landscape, "So, this is what going FTL is like? Damn, it's… beautiful," To call the space around them anything but beautiful felt wrong. This was one of humanity's most outstanding achievements, surpassing the speed of light to make long distances shorter to cross, cutting the cost of the time it would take to arrive at a place.
It was fantastic.
Freeing.
Guardian smiled, but he knew it would end, the ship made a small beep, and he dropped out of FTL near the moon. He took direct control of the ship once more, and he began his descent into orbit, ghost transmatting a location for him to make a landing.
"I used to look up at the moon, you know, and wonder what the Hive was up to, I tried to pick up what activity I could, but it ended up all hazy. Buried or blocked, I couldn't tell… Who knows what the Hive is doing here," The pair's ship came careening over the lunar surface, coming hot and low. It slowed its descent outside the ruins of the lunar facility, allowing Guardian to transmat onto the lunar soil rifle in hand as he took in the sight of the ruined lunar landscape.
Guardian turned his gaze towards the giant blue ball that was Earth; right now, he could even see the Traveler from where he stood and how it hovered over the Last City. It was night now, back there. But being here on the moon put a strange feeling in Guardian's gut. It felt wonderful being able to view such a sight.
Ghost chimed in further through comms, "They called this place Anchor's Light from the reports I've read."
Guardian perked a brow at his ghost's statement, "You've been reading reports from here?"
"Well, yes… even the recent reports," Ghost bashfully admitted
Guardian smirked as he approached a small hill, his tone coy, "You aren't as innocent as you like to portray yourself."
"Hey! I was only reading the reports for research purposes, passing the time," Ghost spoke, offended by the idea of not being a cute innocent cinnamon ball, as Guardian took in the sight of the facility before them, a ruin of mankind's greatness, "The last report was a day ago, the guardian looking around here disappeared. Still, I think we can pick up the trail and find him, his last coordinates are ahead. Remember, though, we are staying out of a firefight with the Hive," A waypoint was placed ahead of Guardian marked right at the large facility to his immediate left; he turned and began to make his way across the lunar surface.
Guardian ran and combined it with his brief ability to fly short distances to make the journey faster, "His last reports make mention of an old accelerator he was fighting Fallen for, some unknown House," Guardian remained silent, allowing his ghost to continue to speak informative information as he moved into the lunar facility, a poorly lit and dark room illuminated by a singular orange light next to a console upon which yellow tubing connected to, "I am picking up activity from that console, that must've been the work of the guardian's ghost."
Guardian swiftly moved to the console, opening the palm of his hand and letting Ghost examine the console. He stood on guard, examining the entrance he came from; the silence of the moon held a tense atmosphere that put him on edge, "It appears the guardian was looking for an old colony base; we can look there. Just remember, no Hive," Ghost made a few more scans; the lights to the room turned back on the screen mounted up on the pillars of the room turned on, and Ghost floated away from the console and flew back to Guardian in the process, disappearing.
The all too familiar howls of Fallen reached Guardian's ears, "What did you do?" Guardian asked as he checked his magazine before placing it back into his rifle.
"I got the power back on, but some Fallen have noticed us. Nothing you can't handle, though," Ghost stated in a charming, innocent tone.
Guardian rolled his eyes, "I thought you said no firefight?" He turned his attention to the upper platform he came from, the entrance soon flooded by dregs swarming in. He opened fire on the cannon fodder of the Fallen and hurled a void grenade into one group of five while he popped the head off of a dreg flanked to his right. Guardian moved up as none came in; as he reapproached the entrance of the lunar facility, he was met with a blade from a vandal. He jumped back just in time and switched to his shotgun, firing it straight into the chest of the vandal, the blast from his weapon sent the Fallen on its back, and it didn't get up after.
Guardian charged out of the room, the outside now crawling with a few dregs and vandals, a small party of six. He opened fire immediately and ducked between pillars and crates as the sound of a nearby skiff approached his left. Guardian switched to his new rocket launcher, figuring now was an excellent time to try; as the shots from the Fallen landed on the object he hid behind, he lined up his shot where the skiff hovered.
The small arms extended outwards with vandals, dregs, and a giant ball–coming out from the holes above the components. Guardian didn't waste time firing the explosive payload, the screaming rocket slamming straight into a vandal and detonating the explosion, taking out the squishier targets. At the same time, the giant ball floated down damaged, visible glowing cracks now along its surface as its singular purple eye stared at Guardian. He lined up another shot with his rocket launcher and fired again, but the giant ball teleported to the left, dodging the payload. It teleported again, approaching the Fallen he hadn't killed yet.
Guardian cursed and repositioned himself, getting a better angle on the group of Fallen. He switched back to Khovstov as the giant ball fell behind the Fallen. It projected energy fields onto the dregs and vandals. When Guardian fired at them, his rounds bounced harmlessly off his foes. He cursed and ducked behind his cover again as he was pelted with rounds, "Ghost, what am I up against?"
"Servitor, Fallen use the servitors for their ether production and amplify their ground forces' ability to fight back; take out the giant ball; they can be hurt," Ghost explained, and Guardian stood up and ran out his shield, eating a round or two, as he flew up into the air. Void energy coursed through his body, running up his sides and into his left hand. The energy rapidly collected, forming in mere microseconds a massive ball of void energy he hurled at the small group of Fallen.
The volatile energy slammed into the group's center, detonating and vaporizing everything within its radius, leaving nothing but dust. Guardian landed on his feet and took a moment to pant and lean against a wall as he stood where the Fallen had once been, "I've linked your sparrow. By the way, it'll make travel much shorter for where we need to go."
Guardian landed back on the ground summoning forth his sparrow once more, "I've marked the location of where the guardian last was. Just head over that ridge," Another helpful waypoint was placed for Guardian. He followed it, passing by abandoned equipment that had been sitting in place for god knows how long; he made sharp turns as he came before another abandoned complex. The waypoint was placed on a large round circular structure in the middle of the road. Guardian hopped off his sparrow and flew up onto a nearby building walking along a path and a small bridge into the large circular building.
There was loads of equipment everywhere; some of it was a sleeping bag and food; the rest of it had already been here as part of the building. Ghost appeared over Guardian's shoulders and floated over to the console. He began to scan it, "Alright, give me a minute," Guardian walked past his partner and to the open hole in the wall, looking at the sight he hadn't given much attention to.
The giant scar on the moon was quite a sight up close; plates of the moon broke apart and sent pointed upwards. The two largest pieces created a vague arch. Guardian didn't need to ask; he remembered the statement from his ghost about Crota. It didn't take make to put two and two together. He could easily imagine such a foe slashing his weapon and sending parts of the moon heaving upwards; however, If such an entity lay in wait somewhere on the moon, then, one day, he would slay that beast.
Guardian had to get stronger even if he was a little scared now.
"Okay, good news and bad news. What do you wanna hear first?" Ghost spoke as he floated up to Guardian, hovering above his shoulder.
"Good news."
Ghost cleared his non-existent throat, "Alright, good news. I know where the guardian went."
"Okay, the bad news?"
Ghost deeply breathed, "I know where the guardian went, and it's his last known location."
Guardian turned his head to face his partner; even if he wore a helmet, he still shot his partner in crime with a confused look, "Where exactly?"
"It's a place not far from here, literally around the corner. But it's… called the Temple of Crota. Judging by the name, it sounds like a death trap; maybe we should go back now," Guardian narrowed his eyes at his ghost and stood up.
Guardian gestured outside the building, pointing to the arch, "No, we need to check it out and see what the Hive has set up there. Then we'll get out of here; only then," He pointed at his ghost, "Alright? You and me, we'll go check it out, see what happened to our fellow guardian, and get out. No one will even know we were here."
Ghost let out a nervous whimper, "F-fine, but…." He groaned, spun around, and got into Guardian's face, "But we are not going any further after that!" Guardian pushed Ghost out of his face and stepped on the hole's edge.
"Fine, we'll do exactly that, and when it's done, we'll go home," Ghost disappeared. Guardian jumped down from the building, using his ability to fly to slow his descent. As he landed, Ghost placed a waypoint that led to his direct right, he followed it, and along a cliffside, he spotted one of those lanterns resting on the ground. He ignored it and passed by it, flying up onto the ledge above it.
"I've been taking a mapping of the subterranean features of the moon; the Hive hollowed it out so intensely that it goes for miles," Ghost spoke with astonishment and fear at the same time, "You do understand that means we have no idea what exactly is below us right now, there could millions of thralls waiting to tear us up or worse… Why did I let you do this."
The notion that the Hive had hollowed large portions of the moon to dig massive complex tunnels and who knows what else below made Guardian's nerves tingle. He couldn't think of anything in response as he descended into a small valley before Guardian stood an outcropping of rocks and large boulders, and the temple at the very end of the small valley, he could see the door was locked with chains holding round circular chains.
"Are lost guardian is up ahead. I'm not detecting any life signs though…." Ghost's voice trembled with uncertainty as Guardian approached the waypoint; he came across a dead guardian. He wore red distinct red armor; judging by the appearance, the dead guardian looked like a titan, Ghost appeared and floated down and scanned the corpse.
"There isn't anything left of him; what happened?" Guardian observed the exterior of the temple's walls; he noted how the green illumination from the crystals nearby gave the exterior of the temple an eerie vibe, adding to the ancient nature of the structure itself. He glanced back down to Ghost, who finished scanning.
"There's no light, none. It's gone," Ghost paused and looked up from the corpse and to the temple itself, "Where did his… ghost go too?" He floated up and glanced at Guardian, "Listen, I'm just going to a quick scan; cover me, will you?" Guardian gave his partner a slight nod and watched the back of Ghost.
Though as he stood on guard, Guardian heard a noise from behind, sounding familiar to a transmat; he slowly turned back, "What?" He whispered in confusion as someone was on a nearby ridge overlooking them. No, it was an Exo. A female Exo. She stood silently observing him, holding a yellow pulse rifle. She wore a jumpsuit of some kind, a primarily dark blue coloration, with a secondary white along the stomach and yellow accents. She wore a cloak, and on her left arm was a faded ribbon tied securely around her arm. Guardian felt the desire to ask who she was build up in the back of his throat, he took a step in her direction, and the words almost formed, but a sound from behind caught his attention.
Guardian swung back around, catching sight of his ghost pulling away from the door, the chains beginning to hiss and fizzling out as they disintegrated before his eyes. Briefly, he looked back to check on the stranger one last time but found her no longer there; he then faced the door again as it began to open slowly. Ghost floated back towards him, still looking at the door, "We may want to move back," Guardian glared at his partner as he took steps back.
"What did you do? I thought you told me we wouldn't fight the Hive?" Guardian spoke exasperatedly as the ancient mechanism to the temple's door clicked into place, and finally, the large pieces of metal began to slide open as Ghost vanished from sight.
Ghost chatted over comms, "I may have woken the Hive!" Guardian cursed at his ghost as the familiar howls of hungry thralls echoed throughout the valley, already an innumerable number of the fast and skeletal-framed thralls charged right towards Guardian as he jumped back, using his power to fly to float a few meters off the ground and chuck a void grenade into an oncoming group.
Thralls were vaporized, but the support fire of reinforcing acolytes from behind.
"What do you mean you woke the Hive?" Guardian landed on a rock, switching to his shotgun and blasting a thrall that lunged at him, its body ripped apart by buckshot. He then jumped off the rock and flew back over the thralls swapping to his rocket launcher and firing a rocket into a group of acolytes; chitin and dismembered limbs flew off, and Guardian landed right in the aftermath.
"I shouldn't have listened to you! Oh, Traveler, how could I let you talk me into this? I am supposed to be the reasonable and sensible voice of reason!" Ghost spoke exasperated over comms.
Guardian broke off to the right, "Me? You're the one that woke the Hive up," He rebutted as he dropped a void grenade at his feet, running like hell past it as the screaming and howling thrall behind him consumed by its detonation. Yet there were just more thralls, and more of the Hive were reinforcing from the entrance of the Temple, "They just keep coming; where do they keep all of these?"
The roars of a rocket hit Guardian's ears, and the thralls behind him howled in agony as they were blown to bits. The crackle of arc energy filled the air, and Guardian glanced to the sky, spotting a rocketing human form going back the way he came. Then the crackling solar fire of a golden gun echoed throughout the valley, he could hear the screams from behind as larger Hive were reduced to atoms.
Guardian craned his head up to the right onto another ridge; Alejandro stood, the golden gun disappearing as he hopped down from his position and threw a throwing knife in Guardian's direction. It passed by his head mere inches away and firmly implanted itself in the skull of a thrall. Guardian stopped running and turned to face the horde he was sure was still following him, only to find nothing.
"So, Guardian, you do a little sneaky, eh? I mean, you do you, but pendejo, you will get into trouble by yourself," Alejandro ran past him, joining the fight at the entrance of the Temple, where the rocketing human turned out to be Nivá, who was brutalizing a Hive wizard with the head of a knight.
The realization dawned on Guardian, and he could hear his ghost crying, "Oh, fuck… I am in trouble," Though he quickly snapped out of it and rejoined the fight with Nivá and Alejandro, they cleared out the Hive from the temple's entrance before pushing in further, killing wizards and knights that got in their way until the tide of Hive ended.
The inside of the temple was spacious, but its structure was beaten up and looked like it had parts that had collapsed in on or where it had not been completed. Whatever the case, they were at an altar, said altar holding a dead ghost.
Ghost popped out and floated up to the remains of his fellow ghost, "The light is drained from this ghost, but I can copy what I can off of its databanks, why don't you explain to our friends here what you were doing in the meantime," Guardian coughed into his and looked at his fellow guardians who flanked either side of him.
"Yes, tell us why you came to the moon," Nivá spoke dryly, her arms crossed as she moved to lean against the wall, "I am sure you have good reason to go to a restricted area," Guardian clicked his tongue and rubbed the back of his helmet, as Alejandro let out a chuckle taking evident enjoyment from the situation Guardian was forced into.
"Well, I figured I'd give it my all and help, alright? We figured we would check out the last reports from the Vanguard scouts on the moon. We found that dead Guardian outside," Guardian gestured to the body lying outside the Temple of Crota, "You know the Hive are obviously up to something," He was glad he wore his helmet; they couldn't see the expression on his face. He gnawed on his lower lip, not wanting to admit the real reason why he had come to the moon in the first place. That feeling of not wanting to be useless and making something of himself was such a driving force. He felt they wouldn't understand.
Why would they? Alejandro and Nivá were far more successful than himself they were more talented and experienced than him. They had more than him, were more than him. He could never match that.
Nivá sighed and facepalmed her helmet, "I can't believe it. I am going to be dealing with two of you."
Alejandro laughed deviously he placed a hand on Guardian's shoulder, "Oh, Nivá, you know I am the best thing ever since sliced bread. Either way, I am not angry with you. Though, honestly, you are kinda acting stupid, pendejo…." Guardian lifted Alejandro's hand off his shoulder and stared at him.
Ghost finished with his scans, and the remains of the ghost floated out of the altar and disappeared while Ghost turned to face the group, "Okay, I've got the information. Let's get out of here before the Hive shows up again."
Nivá stood up straight, "I could not agree anymore, dear little light, however," She took steps towards Guardian, who began to step back cautiously while her hands tightened into fists, "I am going to teach someone a lesson. That he needs to remember, lucky for him, he isn't going to die," Guardian began to back peddle, but Nivá picked up the pace and grabbed Guardian by the shoulder, holding him in place, pulling back her free hand and bringing it forward. Her fist connected with Guardians helmet, the force of which did not rip off his head, cave in his head, or anything that he had braced himself for.
The force of her punch was enough to rattle Guardian's poor little brain, knocking him out as the last thing he saw was Nivá standing tall over him. Though he woke up not long after with a raging headache in the safety of his jumpship, he groaned and rubbed the side of his head, noticing that through the window, he was in formation with the other two ships of Nivá and Alejandros.
"We're in so much trouble, and I hope you understand that, partner," Ghost stated, floating right next to him. Guardian groaned and leaned into the back of his seat as his ship took an automated jump back to the City. He would not hear the end of this from his ghost, and he could not imagine what verbal reprimands he would receive from the Vanguard.
Briefly, Guardian wished for the Hive to have killed him.
Once back in the Tower, Guardian assumed he would be straight to the Vanguard offices and talking with the leaders of the Vanguard. However, that was not the case, much to his confusion. Instead, he, Nivá, and Alejandro were led straight to the Speaker's little tower.
Alejandro and Nivá broke off and stood off to the sides of the room, and Guardian approached the wise and great Speaker who stood before his great archive of books and equipment for god knows what.
The Speaker was reading a book on his table, "Guardian, I hear you went to the moon without permission," The Speaker spoke calmly; one could mistake it for him not being angered at all. The Speaker flipped a book page, not even Guardian a glance, "Can you care to tell me why, you would do such a thing?"
Guardian gulped and rubbed the back of his head. He gave a nervous chuckle, "I… took your words to heart? I wanted to help?" He wasn't sure if the Speaker would buy his answer; he knew deep down that someone like the Speaker could see straight through him, but he didn't want to admit the real reason why, "I figured that dealing with the lost scouts would be worth a lot and that it could help out more than I ever could."
The Speaker sighed and closed the book he was reading; he turned to face the Guardian and stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I know what you feel, Guardian, a new light with no name, a young face, and an eagerness to prove himself. It's youth and doubts that fill you," The Speaker turned Guardian around, still keeping his hand on his shoulder, walking down the stairs leading from his archive, "I told you when I first met you that the darkness is indeed returning and it has as you've already seen with the Hive."
Guardian moved with the Speaker toward the center of the room, "You must understand that your actions can be quite dangerous, and if you recklessly act, you yourself may die," The Speaker removed his hand from Guardian's shoulder, he leaned onto the railing at the center of the room looking out to the City, "We would've inevitably been forced to fight the Hive, your little adventure was not what was wrong, rather. The recklessness."
The Speaker looked Guardian in the eyes; even with the mask, Guardian swore he could feel a caring and understanding gaze meeting him, but it was firm as well, "Your recklessness could've cost your life. You could have died permanently. I asked you to fight against the darkness, and I wish you continue to do so, but you must be willing to think of your actions first." There was a small pause letting what the Speaker said to sink into Guardian. After a few minutes, the Speaker said, "I can't help you with whatever personal problem you have; that is something you must do on your own."
The Speaker reached out and gave a pat on Guardian's back, "You're a good person, Guardian. In time you'll learn from this, and I hope you do," His tone took a more serious edge, "I have sent Guardians into exile for worse offenses. I hope you do not become one of them. This is not a threat; simply my worry for you. I see hope when I look at you. Do you understand?" Guardian nodded his head and looked, feeling that shame building up again.
The Speaker stood up and stepped away from the railing, "Good, the Vanguard is busy overlooking the information you provided them," Guardian followed the Speaker's movements, "As such, I am the one to choose the method of your punishment," The Speaker moved for his stairs, "From here on out you'll be operating with Nivá and Alejandro here for any further endeavors."
Nivá tensed up at the statement while Alejandro remained relaxed, observing the two's conversation.
"I do understand, though, you have some other business you were waiting to finish; I will allow you to do so, but from that point on, you'll be working closely with Nivá and Alejandro," The Speaker calmly stated as Guardian turned to look at his colleagues. It made his stomach drop, knowing he would work closely with Nivá. The titan was terrifying to be around; he turned to face the Speaker again, "I hope this will benefit you, Guardian. May it be a lesson to learn and grow from."
Guardian swallowed the saliva building in his throat and spoke, "Speaker, If I may say, wouldn't it be better not to assign me to their fireteam?"
The Speaker stopped and looked down at Guardian, "I suppose you aren't wrong, but Nivá and Alejandro will provide experience and wisdom you can use. Besides, they've been looking for a third member for their fireteam for quite some time. As a warlock, you would fit the fireteam trinity quite well."
Guardian sighed and looked back to Nivá, tensing up as she stared him down. He then glanced back to the Speaker, "Is that all?"
The Speaker stood silent momentarily, pondering before answering, "For now, yes. That will be all, dear Guardian. Go now, tend to whatever business you need to do," The Speaker returned to his prior activity working through books and muttering to himself.
Guardian observed the Speaker for a minute before returning to talk to Nivá and Alejandro, "So, we're going be a fireteam now?" Nivá ignored him and left the Speakers tower, but Alejandro approached him.
Alejandro shrugged and smiled, "Yeah, I guess we are. Not exactly what I thought would happen to you, my amigo," He gave Guardian a pat on the shoulder, "Well, I'll be seeing you around, my dear new teammate; just remember, Nivá is all hard and scary and stuff, but deep down she's a good person. Eventually, Nivá will warm up to you, and you won't be scared, my amigo."
"Thanks, I feel better already," Guardian sarcastically laughed.
"Yeah, no problem, man. Take care for now."
With that said, the day came to an end for Guardian.
/.\./.\
Guardian sat silently in the mayor's office. He had finally gotten the material he needed for the town and had come to deliver them, only to learn that the town had been under the thumb of nearby bandits. He didn't know, and he couldn't exactly blame Grisby for not talking about it. From he had been told the bandits were just vicious, but Guardian was happy that when he showed up that it scared the bandits off, though, of course, the arrival of the caravan into the town helped as well.
"Partner, I want you to know that these past few days have been the weirdest days of my life," Ghost said as Guardian sighed in agreement, "But at least we didn't have to fight anyone," The door to the room opened, and Grisby walked heading for his desk and taking a seat.
Grisby was sweating profusely; he wiped some of it off while hands clasped together, "Guardian, I am glad you arrived when you did… We were quite in the pickle."
Guardian rolled his eyes, "Yeah, a pickle. That's one way to put it," He scratched his chin and sighed, "I can't blame you for it, but hey, you guys solved the problem."
"Yes, The Sheriff ended up doing quite well, I say, I haven't seen him fire a gun at anyone before," Grisby let out a sigh of relief and lowered his head, "I am sorry though we did not tell you, Guardian."
"Again, I said you guys are fine. I can get why you didn't say anything about the bandits," Guardian stood up from his seat, "So, what exactly happened to lead up to this?" He stretched and popped his shoulders.
Grisby rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Well, it was going as normally as you can expect. Shang wanted our resources, and it was time again for his collection. But, around this time, some strangers arrived in town?"
Guardian raised a brow in confusion, "Strangers? Who?"
"They are a group of lost foreigners looking for a way to the Last City. The man you saw beaten on the ground was Otto; he's the one that's been our go-to for communication."
Guardian nodded and leaned onto the chair he had sat in. He did remember seeing a beaten-up dude, barely conscious as it was, "Communication?" That last part confused him; he wondered what Grisby meant by that.
"A majority of the group doesn't speak English. Otto does, however, as such, he communicates with the rest of them. He's a good man. Sadly his good nature got on Shang's nerves, and he ended up being taken and beaten by them…." Grisby leaned into the back of his chair, relaxing his shoulders, "I am glad he is alive; he certainly can take some punishment; I can't imagine his willpower."
Ghost appeared over Guardian's shoulder, "Well, that's great, but we were just here to give you the materials you needed; we'll mention what happened here in a report, but um… Yeah. We need to get going here soon," Guardian glanced at his partner.
The door to the room office opened, "If that's the case, then at least let me say my goodbye, Guardian," Guardian turned to face the Sheriff who walked into the room, "You can't just come and help not get a goodbye at the very least," The Sheriff offered out his hand.
Guardian took it and shook it, "I am not sure if I did much exactly, but I was pretty sure you guys did more of the work than me; I didn't even know there were bandits here," The Sheriff laughed heartedly, taking Guardian by surprise, "What's uh so funny-"
The Sheriff placed his hand on Guardian's shoulders, holding it tightly as he gave a wide smile, "You have to understand, Guardian, we didn't want conflict or a fight, or even a guardian to show up. But you did, and you helped us even if it wasn't directly," The Sheriff glanced off to the side, his eyes narrowing as if thinking of something else.
"Uh huh," Guardian didn't believe, but he would roll with whatever the Sheriff said. He raised his free hand and tried pulling the older man's hand off his shoulder. The Sheriff's gaze refocused on Guardian, and his hand tightened, "Damn it," Whispered Guardian.
Small tears formed in the corner of the Sheriff's eyes, "Listen, because you showed up, you ended up setting into place some dominos, alright? Because of you, someone I would call a friend, I decided to speak up and keep pushing for us to fight back," The Sheriff pulled away his hand that he had gripped tightly on Guardian's shoulder, "Fuck what I am trying to get at, is that in the end. You ended up helping us. Your presence inspired that friend of mine to stand up against Shang. He inspired me to get up and fight back."
"Thanks," Guardian nodded and began to walk away from The Sheriff. He headed for the door, "I do have to go; live long and prosperous!" Guardian reached for the doorknob.
"Wait!" The Sheriff called out.
Guardian looked over his shoulder back at the Sheriff, "Yes?"
"I want to ask, do you have a name now? It feels wrong calling you just Guardian."
Guardian's brows furrowed, and he released his hold on the doorknob, "I've been thinking about something; it caught my interest," he opened the palm of his hand, and a book on astronomy transmatted into it; he flipped open the book and flipped through the pages. Guardian thought back to the void of space illuminated by distant stars and constellations; it caught his eye and attracted him to the stall. He stopped flipping through the page and held the book by its top half; he turned and showed the page.
Pleiades, The Seven Sisters, Messier 45, A constellation nearest to Earth. They were a prominent sight in winter within the northern hemispheres of the world, visible even in the mid-southern latitudes, many of Earth's old cultures, all with different names and new ones. But one caught Guardian's eye the most.
But a certain name for the Pleiades constellation caught his eye.
"Subaru, call me Subaru. Just Subaru."
Author's Notes:
And end! I hope all are very excited because I sure am! Hehe. This chapter was a blast to write and get out to you guys. Subaru is back in some form now, and you've got to see what he has been up too.
Slowly the storylines of Subaru, The Emilia Camp, and Araksis are coming together.
I hope you all enjoy it and see you next time.