"The only way to make something good is to make something that can't be broken. And the only way to do that is to try to break everything. I'm glad I learned that the universe runs on death. It's more beautiful to know." - XXXIV: More Beautiful to Know

Kaedro stood outside of the secure med bay room. Jade, Ikora, and Asher Mir all accompanied him. Prism was there too, though the Ghost had yet to speak.

Ikora and Asher were talking among themselves, occasionally shooting looks at the Taken Hunter that writhed in the restraints. He watched for a few moments before attempting to speak up once more.

"Maybe if we knew how the Taken process w-"

As with the past several times, he was cut off almost instantly.

"Irrelevant!" snapped Asher, "The process itself is simple! An aperture opens, transporting the individual out of this realm and infusing them with the power of the Darkness. This transforms the victim into an animate vessel of the wielder's power!"

"Well, if it comes from the Darkness, we might be able to-"

Asher rolled his eyes. "Counter it with Light, yes. I've been through all this nonsense before! I'm well aware that the Light is the most likely solution. It's no secret to me that both forces work on a paracausal level!"

Kaedro blinked, suddenly feeling extremely out of his depth. "Uh… what?"

Jade opened her mouth as if to answer him, but seemed to change her mind at the last second, closing it again.

Asher glared at him. "I'm not about to delve into the rules of causality with you, Hunter!"

Kaedro raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, but you still agreed that the Light's our best option."

"Yes, yes," said Asher irritably, "And just where do you propose we acquire the necessary Light? And how would it be wielded? Tell me, have you recently inherited the powers of the Traveler itself?"

"...No."

"Then be quiet and leave me to my work!" Ikora gave a weary-sounding sigh.

Jade piped up suddenly. "What about Ghosts?"

Asher turned on her, seemingly about to shut her down as well. Then he paused, frowning.

"Hmm. Yes, Ghosts… Of course, no one Ghost has enough Light to reverse this process, but perhaps enough of them together… yes." He glanced at Jade. "Congratulations on not being entirely useless, Warlock."

He turned away and began jotting down notes at an incredible speed.

Ikora smiled at Jade and mouthed, "Well done."

"Is he like that with everyone?" Kaedro asked.

"Yes," the Warlock Vanguard replied, "For the most part, Asher holds… equal contempt for everyone he meets. Aside from a pronounced dislike of Titans, which is why you'll rarely see him and Zavala in the same room."

"Ahem," said Asher pointedly, "Do you value these calculations or not?"

"Of course," said Ikora, "We'll wait outside so we don't disturb you, Asher."

"Hmph."

Kaedro and Jade followed her out of the med bay.

"I don't get it," said Kaedro, "Why do you put up with him? Also, why haven't I run into him before now?"

Ikora sighed. "Asher is… reclusive. He prefers to work alone, so he secludes himself from other Guardians. He's only at the Tower now because I asked for his help in dealing with the Taken."

"But… why?"

"Because he is one of the greatest scientific authorities the City Age has to offer," said Ikora simply, "What he may lack in… manners, he makes up for in brainpower. If anyone can come up with a solution, it's him."

As they waited for Asher, Prism floated closer to Kaedro. "I haven't seen him since Phobos," she said quietly, "It's… it's a lot worse in person."

Kaedro sighed. His heart ached for the Ghost. "I know, Prism," he replied, matching her low voice, "But we'll figure this out. You guys will be back to fighting aliens in no time."

"I'm glad you think so, Kaedro." She echoed his sigh. "Ever since I found him on Mercury, we've always been together. But after Phobos… it was like before I didn't have a Guardian. Except it's even worse because I lost my Guardian."

"I know. And I promise we'll get him back to you. We'll fix this, alright?"

Just then, Asher exited the med bay.

"Well, Ikora Rey, annoying Hunter, Warlock… my calculations are complete. The recovery process will not be instantaneous. I am not a magician. But with daily exposure to Light via Ghosts, I have concluded that full recovery will take fourteen to twenty-one days."

Ikora extended a hand for his notepad. "May I?"

"If you must."

Ikora nodded her thanks, taking the notepad from him. As her eyes scanned over it, Kaedro saw her brows furrow. "The number of Ghosts here doesn't add up. Factoring in Kaedro's, Jade's, and Harley's own Ghost — as well as Fireteam Calypso's Ghosts — brings the total to six. I know Cayde and Sundance are more than willing so she, Ophiuchus, and Targe raise it to nine… Where is this tenth Ghost coming from?"

"Unimportant!" snapped Asher, snatching the notepad back.

Ikora raised an eyebrow at him. "I see… I didn't expect you to volunteer. I wasn't aware you cared about Harley."

"I don't! I am acting in the interest of science!"

"Very well," she conceded, "When can we begin?"

"Tomorrow," said Asher, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more data to gather." With that, he took his leave.

Kaedro sighed. Just a bit longer. Just a few more weeks and Ace would be back with them.

Kaedro looked around apprehensively as he entered the room the next day. He might not be the one strapped to the bed, but something about the layout made him feel like he was the one being confined.

The Taken creature that had been his friend strained against the bonds, twitching and convulsing.

One particularly violent jerk caused Tristan to flinch in surprise, causing him to step on Asher's foot. Kaedro winced in sympathy as Tristan's face drained of what little color it had in the face of Asher's verbal abuse.

The situation got worse when Kai joined in. "Hey! We got a problem here?"

"No, we did not, as a matter of fact," Asher told her, "Although I believe that situation has now been rectified!"

"Lay off my friend," Kai warned, "Or do you want me to bring out the hammer?"

"Brute force," scoffed Asher dismissively, "Typical Titan conflict resolution."

Things looked like they were about to turn ugly. Luckily, Ikora stepped in to run damage control.

"Right," said Zavala, "I believe you all know why you're here. Will all the Ghosts in the room please come forward?"

Kaedro blinked in amazement as the Ghosts arrayed themselves around Harley's bed. It was rare to see so many in one place before. Prism's shell was practically vibrating in excitement as she floated forward.

The Ghosts hovered there for a moment before expanding their shells.

Kaedro watched as a stream of white energy was transferred into Harley, causing a gut-wrenching scream to be ripped from his mouth. He winced. He knew what the Ghosts were doing would help Harley in the long run but at the moment, it seemed like all they were doing was torturing him.

The session only lasted about an hour, each transference of Light eliciting wails of agony from the Taken Guardian.

As the minutes passed, Kaedro felt himself pass into a sort of trancelike state. The only two people in existence were himself and his friend in the hospital bed. Nothing else was important.

Finally, he was snapped out of it when Cayde put a hand on his shoulder. "Kay, buddy? You with us?"

Kaedro glanced up, shaking himself out of it. "Yeah." He looked around, noticing that the room was empty apart from himself, Cayde, and the now unconscious occupant of the bed.

"The others headed outside for some air." He glanced at the bed. "Y'know, ever since he disappeared, I was thinkin' the worst… It was drivin' me crazy, too, 'cause I kept comin' back to the same questions. 'What if he's dead? What if the Hive're torturing him?' Y'know?" Cayde shook his head. "Never imagined this outcome… Still, he's here and he'll be back to himself in no time. Better than I could've hoped for, that's for sure."

Kaedro nodded and Cayde clapped his hands. "Well, that's day one down!"

"Yeah, and too many more to go," said Kaedro with a sigh, "...I don't think I can watch that every day."

"I hear ya," Cayde commiserated, "Wasn't a picnic for me either. Just gotta focus on how it'll help him."

"That's what I keep telling myself."

"Hey, at least we found a way to reverse it," the Hunter Vanguard pointed out, "Gotta look on the bright side." He slapped Kaedro on the back.

Kaedro nodded again. "...I think I'm ready to get out of here."

"Me too, Kay. Me too."

When Kaedro emerged from the med bay, he saw Liv had been waiting for him.

"Hey."

"Hey," he replied.

They started walking.

"So, tell me something," she began.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing all this? For Ace, I mean. What did he do to deserve it?" She held up a hand. "And before you answer, I don't mean that in an asshole way or anything. I'm not trying to say he isn't worth it… I'm genuinely curious. We only know him from the rumors."

Kaedro sighed. "I guess I can't say I'm doing it 'cause I'd be an awful person to leave him like that?"

"Nope," she said, "No bailing on me with an easy answer. Besides, if that was your only motivation, you could've just killed him to spare him the suffering."

Kaedro winced. The idea had been tossed around early on but ultimately had been rejected since they weren't sure Harley would come back from it.

"Maybe I didn't wanna make myself miserable," he deflected.

"Ah, the selfish card." She shook her head. "Not gonna work."

He huffed. "Ok, well, tell me … if it were Kai or Tristan in his place, would you just leave them like that?"

Liv glared at him. "You're avoiding the question. I asked you first."

"So are you. But I think I can answer for both of us… No. We couldn't leave them like that 'cause they're our friends. And when you make friends, it causes you to do some stupid shit like get emotionally invested."

Liv snorted. "Hear hear. That's the realest way anyone's ever put it. 'Stupid shit.'" She nudged him playfully. "So, how'd you become friends anyway? I'd like to know the scoop."

Kaedro sighed. "It's weird, 'cause there wasn't much to it... Y'know how after you hang out with the same people long enough, you get used to them always being around? It's a bit like that, except it also involved a lot of almost getting killed, which really strengthens bonds… The very first time I met him, Bazzle actually punched him in the face."

"What?"

"Yeah. That's when I introduced myself. Then later, he gathered us together and told us we all had to work together to take down Crota. After that, there was the Vault of Glass, yadda yadda yadda… I guess in this line of work, you make friends pretty fast."

Liv nodded. "That's true. Shared violence makes friendships stronger. First time I met Tristan, we were thrown together in a random fireteam for a mission. I don't remember what the mission was, but he just ended up sticking around after that. Kai, I met during Twilight Gap. We hit it off but she didn't join up until later. Our first time working together as a trio… man, it wasn't pretty. Kai annoyed me 'cause she was too negative and Tristan was annoying 'cause he was too quiet."

Kaedro snorted. "And I suppose you were the image of perfection?"

She grinned at him. "Nope! Too bossy. But you know how it is… we worked through it, survived mortal danger. It took a few more missions for us to really find our stride… And here we are."

Kaedro nodded. "That's pretty cool."

Liv chuckled. "Not as cool as someone getting punched in the face."

"To be fair, emotions were running pretty high at the time. But yeah, you don't get an introduction like that every day."

A/N: There's chapter fourteen done with! Hope y'all enjoyed reading it. I keep thinking it would be so cool if I could turn this series into comics but unfortunately I'm not at that skill level yet :P

Until next time!

- TheWolfParadox