Fireteam Dauntless

¤ storm ¤ mav ¤ skinner ¤ wicked ¤ fish ¤ carnal ¤ vision ¤ "A Tale of Two Guardians" is currently on hold for a late-stage chapter reboot. Stay tuned!

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians PT 1 Masterlist

CH 1 | CH 2 | CH 3 | CH 4 | CH 5 | CH 6 | CH 7 | CH 8 | CH 9 | CH 10 | CH 11 | CH 12 | CH 13 | CH 14 | CH 15 | CH 16 | CH 17 | CH 18 | CH 19 | CH 20 | CH 21 | CH 22 | CH 23 | CH 24 | CH 25 | CH 26 | CH 27 | CH 28 | CH 29 | CH 30 | CH 31 | CH 32 | CH 33 | CH 34 | CH 35 | CH 36 | CH 37 | EPILOGUE

[heavenlyeros]

commissions & GIVEAWAY

hello everyone! as we end this absolutely  ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ of a year, i wanted to take a moment to thank you all, old and new, for joining me here. it’s been very hard and i really have no words to express how much your support in the recent months has meant to me and my work. and so, to celebrate this symbolic new beginning and try to give back at least a fraction of the love and joy you guys bring me every day, i’ll be gifting two half body commissions to two randomly chosen people!

giveaway rules ♡ one entry/reblog, you can have as many as you want but please don’t spam your followers ♡ must be following me ♡ no giveaway blogs

ends 10 january 2021

wishing you all a peaceful and hopeful holiday season filled with friends, family, and all the things that bring you happiness <3

[heavenlyeros]

one more week to go!

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXXIII

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 33 : Quiet Reverie

word count : 3.6K  masterlist | tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

Maverick walked me along the barren and well lit City streets.  It was later than I thought it was.  There were very few shops left open, and those that were open were either clubs or late-night restaurants.  Maverick kept his arm wrapped around my back and kept me close to his side.  I welcomed his comfort.  But when I looked up, I saw that we were already three blocks past my street.

“Mon chérie… where are we going?  My place is back that way.”

“Oh no, I’m not leaving you alone in your house.  You’re coming back home with me and you’re staying with me until we end this.”

“Until we end this?”  I looked at Maverick with shock.  “Maverick, I’m not even sure there’s an end in sight.”

“Well, lucky me, then.”  It was obvious by his tone he was teasing.  I pouted my lip in doubt as we walked up the stairs to his second floor apartment.  “Look, if you’re worried about protocol, don’t be.  I don’t like the idea of you being alone while all of this is going on, and the Vanguard… I’m pretty sure Cayde and Ikora would understand why we might be afraid.  Zavala is just Zavala, he doesn’t stray from protocol.  But he’ll suck it up.”

I fell silent as we walked inside the apartment.  Maverick let me in first, then followed up behind me and locked the door. He walked in and started his usual routine, taking off his armor, setting down his guns, and he almost immediately started to walk into his office, where he worked on his models.  Like his routine was so ingrained in him that he had no choice but to follow it.

I stood frozen in the doorway.  I could feel my heart racing and I rubbed my arms anxiously.  My mind was tired and exhausted, but every synapse in my brain was firing like lightning.  I slowly took a few steps forward and set down my weapons on the table.  My mind kept spacing in and out of focus.  Maverick must have gone into the bathroom when I wasn’t paying attention, because I heard the shower start running.  He came back out, in a t-shirt and sweats, and leaned against the wall.  

“I, uh… I thought you might want to clean up so I started the shower.”

I gave him a tentative smile.  “Thank you,”  I said softly.  “I’ll head in in just a minute.  I need to send my Ghost to my place to get some of my things, if I really am going to be hunkering down here for a while.”  I looked up and gave him a brighter smile, trying to be positive, but I was feigning joy.  Deep down, my stomach was filled with dread.  There was a faint voice in the back of my head, whispers conveying unintelligible words.

“It can wait for the morning, right?  We can even swing by if you want.  I got some spare clothes you can use here.”  He gave me a nod, then walked back down the hallway to his bedroom.  I slowly removed my armor, piece by piece, buckle by buckle, lace by lace.  Before Maverick could come back, I snuck into the bathroom and closed and locked the door.  I stripped out of my thermals, the spandex-like underclothes that all Human and Awoken Guardians had to wear under their armor to protect themselves from the harsh cold of space.  

At first, the heat of the water felt like it was burning my skin, but after a few seconds, the warmth immediately brought relaxation to my muscles.  I stayed under the water for a long time, letting my worried thoughts flow with the water down the drain.  Even still, I got flashbacks every time I had to close my eyes.  I scrubbed my body harshly, trying to get rid of the sticky Taken-gunk feeling that never left my skin.  

“Are you going to be okay, Guardian?”  My Ghost asked, her voice very heavy with concern.  “You’re still acting… strangely.”

I took a deep breath as I let the water wash away the soap.  “For once in my life, peu de lumiere, I’m honestly not sure.  Every time I start to get the slightest hope that everything’s going to be okay, Oryx snuffs it out.  I… I don’t think I’m going to be okay until we kill him.  Permanently.”

She didn’t respond to me.  I think my Ghost was unsettled by my harsh realistic ideology.  I didn’t even sound like myself.  I turned off the water and stood in the shower for a minute, I waited for the air to cool before I slid the curtain open and grabbed the towel.  It was warm and soft, like Maverick had it warmed up before he left it for me on the bathroom counter.  I took no time at all to dry off and got dressed.  I left the bathroom, hair still damp, and looked around for Maverick.  I walked aimlessly around the apartment, my hands running over furniture and picture frames.  I walked into his office, where Maverick was hunched over his desk, meticulously piecing something together.  I walked over to him slowly, then gently wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned against his back.  Maverick looked over his shoulder at me and smiled.  He placed his hand on my arm and squeezed gently.

“Everything okay?”  He asked quietly.  I nodded, but didn’t respond.  Nothing was truly OK, but here in this moment, I wanted to believe that I could have some semblance of peace here.  I closed my eyes and leaned against him, the exhaustion had started to make my muscles feel heavy.  Maverick pushed his chair back and stood slowly, but I kept my arms wrapped around him as he turned.  He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist, and tightened my arms around his neck.

“Mm… I’m tired…” I mumbled quietly.  “But… I can’t keep my eyes closed…”

“I know, I know,”  Maverick whispered.  “I’ll be close the entire time, I promise.”  

Maverick set me down on the bed and I crawled under the covers.  I let myself collapse against the pillows and I looked up at Maverick, who sat on the edge of the bed.  I gave him a weary smile, then reached out and grasped tightly onto one of his hands. 

“Promise you won’t leave me,”  I asked quietly. 

“I promise.”

“Je t’aime, mon cherie,”  I said softly as I started to drift.

“I love you, too, Angel,” Maverick replied.  It was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.

—————

I opened my eyes and found myself in darkness.  I was armorless, weaponless, Ghostless, but in my hands was my Light.  The only weapon I would ever need.  I let the Arc energy surge through my body and dance up my arms.  I saw a figure in the distance, a shape in the dark, and I found myself walking towards it, unable to stop myself, even as the pit in my stomach grew.  It didn’t even move, not even when I was right behind it.  I reached out slowly, heart pounding, and placed my hand on the figure's shoulder. The moment I touched it, it turned around.  My eyes widened. 

“Maverick?”  I asked.  He looked tired and the light in his eyes was dim.  “Maverick, what’s wrong, what’s wrong?!”  I grabbed onto his arms as he started to go down, and I fell to my knees beside him, supporting his upper body.  “No, no, no,  Maverick, please no…”  I looked down over his body; there was a gaping hole in his chest and hemosynth* bled out of him, soaking my hands and my robes.  My eyes filled with tears.  “What happened to you?”

He grabbed onto my shoulder and made me look at him.  “He’s coming,” he choked out.  “Run.”  It was the only thing he said before the light faded from his eyes.  I bit my lip and shut my eyes tightly to hold back tears.  I laid his body down slowly and with care, then pressed my lips on his forehead.

When I looked up, there was a large, looming, winged figure above me.  I knew it immediately.  I stood up slowly and held my head high as Oryx stood tall above me.  I let my arms, still tingling with Arc Light, fall to my side.   I rotated my palms forward and the Light surged through my entire body.

“You can’t escape me,”  Oryx said, though his voice was only in my mind.

“I will not let you take me,”  I said aloud firmly.  

He reached out towards me, his fist full of black fire, and just like that, all of my Light was siphoned from my body, replaced by a cold emptiness.  I barely managed to stay on my feet.  “You already have.”

When I looked down at my hands, they were white that faded into black, and covered in starlight.

—————

I shot upright out of my sleep, though I felt I was unable to make a sound. I was drenched in cold sweat and felt chills run across my entire body.  I looked down at my hands and much to my relief, my flesh was free of corruption.  I ran my hands through my hair and looked around.  The room was dark, except for a small light at Maverick’s desk in the corner.  Maverick was already walking over to me and took a seat on the bed in front of me.  

“Are you alright?”  He asked, his voice heavy with worry.

I nodded slowly.  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine…  Just a bad dream…”

Maverick didn’t say anything more, just pulled me against his chest.  He smoothed a hand over my hair, a motion that never failed to calm me down.  My chills slowly subsided and I relaxed against him. 

“Maverick… I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to sleep until all of this is over.  Every time I close my eyes, Oryx is there, and I feel like I'm being Taken again.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I feel like he’s draining the Light out of my body until I can’t feel anything, until I can’t think, but I know what’s happening.  I know it’s complicated to explain, but Eris said not to let him in… And when I sleep I am at my most vulnerable.”  Maverick gazed out the window, like he was pondering something.  “What is it?” I asked softly. 

“I get that you don’t want to sleep,” he started to say.  “So… Do you want to walk around the City?  There’s some nice sights and some places around that are good to take refuge in if you want some peace and quiet.  Parks and things like that.”

I looked at him with my eyebrows raised and a half smile on my lips.  It was not like Maverick to be talking about sentimental places in the City.  “Okay, Maverick,”  I said and pushed the covers aside.  “Let me grab my boots.”  He smiled in response and got up from the bed.  “Ghost, can you get me a sweater from my place?”  I asked.

“I’ll be right back,” she responded, disappeared briefly,  then came back and my black and gold jacket appeared in my lap.  I laced up my boots and pulled on the jacket.  Maverick was already waiting for me by the door, dressed for the chilly weather.  I interlocked my arm with his and he led me out of the apartment.  Maverick locked up behind us, then led me down the stairs and we went into the night. 

The Sky gives, and that power will snuff you out… The Deep Takes… take from the Deep and you will be powerful.

“So… where are we going?”  I asked Maverick after we were a few blocks down.  The City lights were breathtaking.  I had grown used to the brightness of them, and sleeping was easier, but this curse was a whole new demon that was hard to face.  My mind kept slipping in and out of focus, and slipped out whenever the whispers came back.  And each time, the gentle squeeze of Maverick’s hand on mine brought me back to reality and silenced his voices.

I am not like you!

“Well… there is one place I had in mind,” he started, looking at me with worry.  I gave him a smile to quell his fears, and I noticed his composure physically relaxed.  “There’s a little park.  It’s a bit out of the way, but it’s on the edge of the city where there are trees, and a little pond… you can even see the stars from the ground.”

Your fellow Light Warrior took my Son!  You have taken my Vengeance!  And you will fall to the Deep!

Oryx’s voice echoed so loudly in my head that it caused a physical reaction.  I flinched and grabbed tightly onto Maverick’s hand.  

“Genesis, are you okay?!”  Maverick asked, his tone was alarmed with worry.  He placed his other hand under my elbow until I could get my bearings.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,”  I said after taking a few deep breaths.  “I… I think I might have to talk to Eris to get some advice on how to… manage this.”

“That might not be such a bad idea.” 

I looked at him and gave him a weary, but overall happy smile.  He smiled back and wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me safely to his side. We continued walking to the park Maverick had mentioned, and he was right.  It was very out of the way, almost on the other side of the City.  But when we did arrive, I was so glad we had made the trip.  It was a little pond, whose waters disappeared into a pipe that must have led outside of the walls.  There were benches scattered around the edge, and we picked a seat underneath the branches of an old Elm tree.  The leaves must have fallen a while back, and the barren branches gave way to the stars above.  I sighed out loud, letting go of the breath I had apparently been holding.

“Do many people know of this place?”  I asked curiously.

“No,”  Maverick said.  “Just a few guardians and a few locals.  I never really see anyone here at night though.  Anyone who finds this place… it’s like a secret, you know?  You find it, but you don’t tell anyone.”

I looked at him with a smile and with my eyebrows raised.  “Then didn’t you just tell the secret to me?” 

He looked at me with a smile, the mischievous look on his face made my heartbeat pick up.  “It can be our little secret.”

My cheeks flushed with blush and I smiled as I looked away.  He always knew exactly what to say to make my heart flutter and my stomach tie in knots, whether he realized it or not.  I looked down and closed my eyes as I nestled closer against his side.  His arm wrapped securely around my shoulder.  We sat in comfortable silence, Maverick’s eyes were closed and I watched the stars above me.

“I should take you on a tour around France,”  I said softly.  “There’s still some old Renaissance art at the Louvre in Paris, Château d'If in Marseille, and if you go back to Paris at nighttime, and sit atop the Arc de Triomphe, you can see all of the stars in the world… since the lights in the city are now few and far between.”

“I’d like that,” Maverick said quietly.  

After a few more minutes of silence, I stood up slowly and walked towards the pond.  “Ghost, how cold do you think that water is?”  I asked her.  She left my side and hovered over the pond for a moment.  I looked at Maverick with a half smile on my lips.

“It’s about 5℃, why?”  She asked as she flew back over to me.

“Oh no reason.  Just thinking about a late night swim.”  I looked over at Maverick with a teasing grin, then slid off my sweatshirt, boots, socks, and sweats.  I could see his body starting to stiffen a little, like he was getting flustered, and I let out a giddy, happy laugh.  And against the protests of my Ghost, I dove into the chilly water.  It stung my skin and sucked the air out of my lungs, but this was the closest to feeling like I had a semblance of normalcy in my mind.  All of my thoughts cleared as I sat under the water.  I didn’t have to breathe, my Ghost could cover that.

“Genesis, are you alright?” Dawn asked.

“Fine,” I replied, “just… clearing my head.  Looking for a bit of clarity.”

“You don’t normally go under water like this.”

“I’m not hearing his voice.  My mind is clear.  If this is what it takes for some quite… for some peace of  mind, then so be it.”

There was silence between us for a few minutes.  Dawn interrupted that silence.  “Maverick is getting a little worried about you up there.”

“Is he?”

“Um, yeah he is.”

“I should probably head back up then, right?”

“Please do, he won’t shut up about you to his Ghost.”

I shook my head and swam up, the air filling my lungs and a sigh left my lips. I wiped the water out of my eyes and pushed my hair back, and sure enough, there was Maverick, kneeling on the water’s edge, staring at me with relief. 

“Jeez, why’d you do that?!”  He exclaimed.  “You just jumped in and disappeared!”

“Sorry,” I said.  “I didn’t mean to worry you, but my head hasn’t been clearer since we got home than when I was under water.  I didn’t want to come back up.”  I moved over to the edge and reached up.  Maverick took my hand and started to help me out, but before he could get me out, I planted my feet on the wall, and pulled back with all of my strength.  The moment I did, I heard Maverick shout a curse right before we both plunged into the water.  I surfaced immediately and started laughing.  Maverick was none too pleased.  

“Really?  Really, Storm?”  Maverick grumbled.

“Yes!”  I giggled.  “Come on, your reaction was priceless!”  I wiped the water off my face as he turned around and started to walk back towards the edge, presumably to get out of the water.  I swam up behind him quickly, and wrapped my arms around him, locking him in place. He stopped trying to escape from me and seemed to accept that I wasn’t letting him out of the water.

“I hate this,” he muttered under his breath as he turned around and faced me.  He looked down at me and hesitantly placed his hands on my waist.  I could see the upset in his eyes and yet, there was a softer look of an emotion I couldn’t place. Maybe sorrow, maybe compassion?  All I could sense was the air of protection emanating from him as his grip settled firmly on my sides.

I smiled brightly and wrapped my arms around his neck.  “Well, I love it,” I teased.  “You need to loosen up a little more, you know.”  His gaze turned soft and he started to look away, but I put myself back in his line of sight  “Maverick?  Mon cherie, what’s wrong?”

He took a deep breath and met my gaze.  “Angel… my sweet angel…”  he reached up and brushed the hair off of my face, pulled me close against his chest, and I could feel myself melting into his embrace.  “I’m just… I’m worried about you.  About this.  About everything. Can you promise me something, Genesis?”

“Of course, anything.”

“If things ever start getting rough for you, or if his voice becomes too loud, promise me you’ll say something.  Don’t keep quiet about it.  I want to help you in any way I can, I want to protect you, but I can’t if you don’t let me…” 

I could feel my cheeks warming and I gently held the cool metal of his jaw.  “Okay,” I sighed and relented.  “I will, I promise.”

“Good,” he murmured, then leaned down and pressed his mouth piece against my lips.  I closed my eyes and kissed him back, my heart fluttering and my skin crawling with the pleasurable chills that ran down my spine.  This sense of electricity, this exhilaration I missed. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and his arms lifted me up a bit, holding me tight and close.  We parted after a few moments in silence, our foreheads pressed against one another’s, and we exchanged a few soft, single kisses in the pond.  

“Can we get out of the pond now?”  He pleaded quietly.  “I still hate the water.”

I laughed softly and nodded, followed by a yawn.  “Of course,” I said.  We both climbed out and started to shake off the water. 

“You’re finally getting tired?”

“Yeah…” I started to pull on the sweats and sweatpants.  “I can feel the exhaustion creeping in again.”

“That’s good.  I can black out the apartment and you can get some sleep.”

“What do you mean?” I looked over at him as I pulled on my boots.

“Look,”  He pointed up towards the sky and sure enough, the sky was starting to lighten as the sun began to rise.  “It’s almost dawn.”

I yawned aloud as Maverick reached out and pulled me to my feet.  We walked home and, along the way, I could feel myself start to sway and my vision was going in and out of focus.  I was falling asleep on my feet.  The Exo noticed this, and he lifted me off my feet.  I clung to him and closed my eyes.  I fell asleep as he carried me back to his apartment.

As he carried me back home.

—————

*the term “hemosynth” was made by @mail-me-a-snail to describe the fluids that run through exo bodies.  it’s their form of blood, so to speak.

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians is currently on hold for a late-stage fireteam and story reboot. Stay tuned for what happens next and see who's joining the Fireteam!

Tag List | @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXXII

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 32 : Free Will

word count : 2.4K masterlist | tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

Death was like a glimpse of freedom.  His voice echoed in my head, telling me to rise, telling me to finish it.  I didn’t heed his calls.  Solar energy surged through me, replacing my frozen blood with warmth.  I rose up from the ground, once again in control of my own will.  I turned around and saw the shadow of Oryx in the mist.

“Vous ne me casseras pas!”*  I screamed at him.

I already have.

The moment he came through the mist, sword ready to strike us down, I threw every single fusion grenade I had in my arsenal at him.  Skinner and Maverick unloaded their rockets into him.  I picked up the knife that I used to stab myself with, ran up to him and jumped up, driving the knife through his chest.  I didn’t let go, I kept driving it deeper, and deeper, until almost the entire hilt of the blade was buried in his chest.  The blight around us disappeared and Oryx knocked me back and into one of the rocks.  My entire body jolted with pain and my vision became hazy.

I saw Oryx stumbling, like he was seriously injured.  Skinner and Maverick stood between me and him, weapons ready.  But Oryx… Oryx only reached for his sword and extracted a ball of Taken energy from it, held it in the air like a sacrifice, then slammed it into his chest.  His physical body started to decay and fade, but then he looked past Skinner and Maverick, directly at me.  He laughed, then disappeared into nothing.

I couldn’t help but to start laughing, even though I could barely move my muscles.  “I won… I won…”

Maverick ran over to me, but my vision was blurry and I could barely keep my eyes open.  He lifted my upper body into his arms and his hand pushed through my hair and pressed my head into his chest. I couldn’t hold back my tears and I started to break down.

“I know you,”  I murmured quietly.  “I know you…”

“Shh… shh… It’s okay…”

“He broke me…” I cried.  “I… I couldn’t stop it… I tried, I tried so hard to fight…” Maverick tried to quiet me and calm me down, but I had to tell them.  “He brought me… he brought me your mark…” I reached a shaking hand and pulled it out of my robes.  “And part of Skinner’s cloak… I… I thought you were dead…”  My Ghost flew over and started to heal my body and my wounds.  I could feel my strength returning to my body, but I didn’t want to move from his embrace.  “I failed you… I’m so sorry…”

“Shh… you didn’t fail anyone.  You still tried to fight.  You’re going to be okay.”

I looked at Maverick and Skinner, who had come over and crouched down beside us.  Tears still streamed from my eyes onto my cheeks.  “I wanna go home…”  

Maverick nodded and lifted me up, then turned to Skinner.  “This stays quiet.  We can’t tell the Vanguard what happened.  At least not all of the details.  If they ask, he showed us all our fears. Got it?”

“Trust me Mav, when we land in the Tower I don’t even want to talk to the Vanguard about what happened here.”  

The moment our Ghosts got a lock onto Maverick’s ship, we transmatted out of there.  The moment we were off the Dreadnaught, all comms came back to life.  

“This is attempt thirty-two to reach Fireteam Dauntless.  Fireteam, if you can read us, let us know you’re okay.”  It was Ikora.  

Maverick settled me down in one of the seats and helped me buckle in.  My body still felt weak and stiff, but at least my strength was back.  Before he went into the pilot’s seat to respond, he held tightly onto my hands and pressed a kiss to my forehead.  “We’re going to get you home so you can rest, so sit tight, okay?”  I didn’t want him to let go, so I squeezed his hands tighter.

You cannot escape me.

“Genesis are you ok?”  Skinner asked as he knelt down in front of me.

“What’s happening?”  Maverick asked.

You embrace death.  The Deep embraces death.

I shook my head and held my head in my hands, and curled my legs to my chest.  “I can still hear his voice,”  I whispered.  “Beckoning…”

The two of them exchanged a look.  “Eris… would know how to help…”  Skinner said. 

“Let’s just get home first,”  Maverick said firmly, dropping the subject.  “Skinner, get on the comms and contact the Vanguard.  Tell them we’re alright and on our way home.”

Skinner nodded then went up to the co-pilot seat.  “This is Skinner from Fireteam Dauntless.  We defeated Oryx in our world but he disappeared somewhere.  We’re on our way home.”

“It’s good to hear from you, Fireteam,”  Cayde said.  “Get home safely.  We’ll meet you in the Hanger when you enter the airspace.”

“Right…”

Maverick finally left me and went to his seat at the controls.  I hugged myself tightly.

“Guardian?” My Ghost floated in front of me.  I looked at her with tears still in my eyes.  “I… I’ve seen what he did to you.  Are you alright?”

I shook my head and gently held her in my hands.  “I’m just glad I sent you away,”  I mumbled quietly.  “If you were there with me, he would have Taken you, too.  And I wouldn’t be back here now.”

“I see memories of what happened to you. You said you can still hear him?  I… I don’t hear him, Genesis, are you sure he’s there?”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and nodded.  “It’s not like he’s saying the same thing.  He’s in my head…” 

“He can’t be in your head, Genesis,”  Dawn insisted.  “I can’t pick up any trace of him in your brain.”

“Ghost,”  I said to her sternly.  “Stop.  You don’t know what you’re talking about.  I know what I’m hearing.”  I wrapped my arms around my legs and held tightly onto the backs of my sleeves.  I tried to close my eyes and sleep, but every time I did I saw flashes of Oryx, of the Taken, of the corrupted sword in my hand, the taken energy in Oryx’s fist.  Every time I had to open my eyes again to remind myself that I wasn’t in that darkness anymore.  But every time Maverick turned back to check on me, I closed my eyes and feigned sleep, and I endured the nightmares behind my eyelids until he looked away.

“She’s strong,”  Skinner murmured.  I opened my eyes a tiny bit, just enough to keep myself awake to eavesdrop, but not enough to where they thought I was awake.  I peered at the two of them through my eyelashes

“I know,”  Maverick sighed.  “But she’s not as strong as you and I.”

“And she will recover.”

“It might take a while, but yeah…  I know…”

“She will need your help, Mav,” the Hunter added.  “I don’t care what Vanguard protocol is.  Just… stay by her side until we figure out what the hell went wrong.  Why didn’t we kill him?  Why did he just let us go?  This doesn’t add up and you know it.”

“I know that!”  Maverick hissed quietly.  He was clearly angry about the way things went.  “There’s too many questions and not enough answers.  For now…”  Maverick looked at me over his shoulder as we entered Earth’s orbit.  “For now I just want to keep her safe and let her sleep.”

The two of them fell silent again as we entered the Tower airspace.  Maverick announced our arrival and requested a landing pad.  Even Amanda sounded relieved to hear we were back safely. 

When we landed, Maverick came back to me as Skinner got ready to get off.  He gently held my hands until I turned my focus to him.  "Storm, I know you're tired, but you need to walk out of here.  If the Vanguard finds out what happened to you, they will absolutely not let you be a Guardian anymore.  Without a question.  It would be like total lockdown, but permanent.”  

My eyes filled with tears.  Being a Guardian was the only thing getting me through this mess right now.  “I know,”  I whispered softly.  “There’s just so many images I can’t get out of my head.”

“Angel, please,”  Maverick pleaded.  “We just have to get through the meeting with the Vanguard, and then we can go home.  Can you do that?”

I took a shaky breath, but nodded.  “I-I think so.  I can try.”  Maverick placed a hand on my elbow and helped me stand.  We transmatted out of the ship and into the Hanger, where the Vanguard were waiting for us.  Skinner was already with them, but he hadn’t said a word to the Vanguard.  His arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot with his impatience and nerves.

I saw Eris stare at all of us.  Her back straightened a bit and her shoulders went rigid.

She knew.

“How’d the mission go?”  Zavala asked the group of us immediately, the moment we approached them.

“Wow, okay, no chill,” Maverick said bitterly.  “But anyways that is the last time I want to fight a Hive King or God for a long time.”

“What do you mean Maverick?”  Ikora asked.

“Do you know what it's like to have a monster like that poke and probe your mind for your fear, and then making them a reality? Not very fun. But other than, that the mission was a success.”

They all stared at us for a moment before Zavala broke the silence.  “I believe I'll see an after action report by tomorrow correct?”

“Yeah sure Big Blue whatever you want,” he said. 

He gave Mav a nod and they all walked away, except for Eris.  She approached us, her head turned about to scan her surroundings, and she spoke with heavy concern.  “I feel his presence, who is it?  Who let him in?”

The three of us felt silent.  I could feel Maverick’s grip on my hand tighten.  Even still, I could hear his voice.  I could hear his whispers.  I closed my eyes to fight back tears.  

“It's… Storm.  She was Taken, I think, for a brief moment,”  Maverick said, probably louder than he should have.

Eris held up a hand to silence him, she looked around the Hanger once more, and then back to us.

“Too many wondering ears. Come we will go somewhere more… secluded.”  She motioned for us to follow her.  We followed her out of the Hanger into the Tower Plaza past the Postmaster and up some stairs.  People rarely went up here so it was the most secluded place in the Tower. 

“You were Taken?!”  She exclaimed once we were far out of earshot.  I almost winced at the harsh tone in her voice, but I knew it was from shock.  “How did you break Oryx's hold on your will?”

I looked at Maverick nervously, but he nodded anyway.  Eris had to know, even if I didn't want to recount everything that happened.  “Oryx separated us one by one to try and break our wills.  I gave Skinner my Ghost before he came for me.  And after he…  took me, he tried to make me kill them.  They brought me back.  They helped me remember who I was, who they were, and keep a grip on the little bit of Light I had left.  Oryx gave me a knife imbued with Taken energy and I…  I used that knife to kill myself and used the Light my Ghost gave back to me to activate my radiance.  My light must have broken his hold on my Will, but he’s still there.”

“What are you hearing, Guardian?  What are the voices telling you?” 

I looked away and hugged myself tightly.  Even Eris, with her prodding questions, made me feel uncomfortable.  But she’s the expert on the Hive, if anyone knew how to explain this, it was her.  “I hear… whispers. Oryx telling me about the Deep, about death, that I can’t escape his reach. Every time I close my eyes, I have these… visions of what happened on the Dreadnaught.”  I looked back at Eris. “I’m trying so hard, but I can’t block him out. He’s there, he’s still in my head… like fingers pressing on my consciousness.”

“But your connection with your fireteam together with your Light broke most of his hold.  But to rid your mind of the Taken King you must kill him, in his Throne World.  So soon you will return and bring down the King.  And without a leader the Taken should wither."

“Do we even know where he is?”  Skinner interrupted.  “We can’t kill him if we can’t find his throne, right?”

“The Hidden and I will find him.  You must prepare your fireteam.  And Guardian,”  Eris turned me, “do not heed his calls, and fight his voices.   He can only win if you let him in.”  Eris nodded her head to each of us, then walked away.  I walked over to the railings that overlooked the land below.  I placed my hands on the rails and took a few deep breaths.  I shut my eyes tightly.

You will try to hide…

“Storm…” Skinner walked over to me.  “Are you alright?”

You will try to run…

“No,” I croaked out.  Every time he spoke my head felt like it was being ripped open and I got a splitting headache.  I clutched so tightly onto the metal that my knuckles turned white.

But I will always find you.

“You’re hearing him again, aren’t you?”  Maverick said as he came over to my side.  He placed his hand on my shoulder.  I could only nod in response. Maverick placed his hands over mine and held on tightly.  “Storm, listen to me,” he said firmly.  I opened my eyes, on the verge of tears, and looked at him.  “He cannot reach you here.  We won’t let him hurt you again, okay?”

I could only give Maverick a small, tentative nod.  As much as I wanted to believe him, getting used to these voices was difficult.

“Well… I’m going to get a drink,”  Skinner said.  “Storm, you should go home and rest.  And Mav… remember what we talked about.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Skinner left the Tower and we stayed on the balcony in silence.  I didn’t want to move.  The air was crisp and cold with the coming winter.  Clouds were rolling in, replacing the reds and yellows of the setting sun with the shadow of darkness.

“Come on, Angel,”  Maverick said softly as he lifted my frozen hands from the cold railing.  “Let’s go home.”

---translations--

* You will not break me!

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXXI

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 31 : Regicide

word count : 5.7K (grab your tea, this one’s a biggie) masterlist | tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

CW: corruption, mental instability, major character “death”, self injury.

I woke the next morning and the bed beside me was cold.  I sat up and yawned.  I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window.  My hair was messy and my eyes looked tired.  I stretched my arms and then ran my hands through my hair.  I didn’t know that Maverick had left me last night.  I slept far too well.  Better than I had in weeks.  I rolled out of bed and grabbed a robe.  My apartment was chilly.  The temperature was dropping day by day as the seasons were changing.  Winter was fast approaching.  I pulled on the robe as I walked down the stairs slowly, only to be met with the sound of sizzling food and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.  I walked downstairs and into the kitchen, and there Maverick was, cooking breakfast at the stove.  His Ghost was talking to him, telling him how to cook whatever he was making.  I smiled to myself and leaned against the door frame.  I didn't say a word.

“Be careful Maverick, you’re going to burn it!”  His Ghost scolded.

“I don’t know!  I’m really trying, okay!  Now hush before you wake her up.”

I watched as he flipped the spatula in his hand and heard the pan sizzle.  I smiled softly and walked into the kitchen, my bare feet silent on the floor.  The table was set with orange juice, plates, and silverware.  I was so flattered by his lavish attempts at making me breakfast.  

I walked up beside him and gently wrapped one of my arms around his back.  He jumped a bit and looked down, and he smiled at the sight of me.  I peered around to see what he was making, he was making French toast.  “Turn the heat down,”  I said as I reached around and turned the knob on the stove to medium-low, where he had it at medium-high.  “It will cook evenly that way.”

“Well good morning, Angel,”  he said happily.  “Did you sleep alright?”

I shifted around and hugged him from behind, my head leaning against his back.  “Mmm… better than I have since all of this started.  You think the Vanguard would be okay with us breaking protocol like this?”

“Ikora and Cayde, maybe.  They both have sympathy for you and I, and I know Ikora knows about us.  You know, because her Hidden are everywhere.  And Cayde’s, well, Cayde.  He loves breaking rules.  But Big Blue?  No way in hell.”

“That’s still two-to-one.”

“Yes it is.”

He moved around me and over to the table, then dished out the food to each of us.  At least, more for me than himself.  We sat down together and ate breakfast mostly in silence.  We spent most of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the living room.  Maverick was telling me stories about his adventures that he hid from the vanguard.  I was sketching on a bunch of loose leaf, and the papers were scattered all around the room.  He was sitting on the corner cushion, I was laying on my back, head in his lap, knees propped up with my sketchpad resting on my thighs.  I could feel myself dozing off every now and then as he played with my hair, and he would wake me by either gently ticking me or giving me soft kisses.  I didn’t even think about our impending mission, but as the day rolled on, I was becoming more and more anxious.

I didn’t even want to put my armor on.  I was dreading this mission.  When it was reaching three o’clock and we were going to have to meet the vanguard in a few hours.  At least, Maverick was.  He was to get the mission briefing before we left for the Dreadnaught.  Skinner and I were going to be waiting for him in Orbit.

While I was armoring up, taking my time, dreading each piece that I pulled on, Maverick came into my bedroom.  I only had my pants and boots on so far, so I was only wearing the form fitting undershirt.  I looked up at him and gave him a wary smile.  He walked over to me quietly and knelt down in front of me.  

“It’s almost over,”  he said quietly.  “We are almost there.  This is it, Angel.”

“I know,”  I replied.  “I just… I have a really bad feeling…”

“Me too.”  He took my hands in his and squeezed them gently.  “But we will win, I promise you.  We'll make it out, together, as a team.”

I nodded.  “I know.  You should be heading out to the Vanguard, I’ll be waiting in orbit with Skinner.”

“I know… Meet Skinner in the Hanger.  We’re all riding in on my ship.  I’ve given you both access to it.  He’s going to take it to Orbit and I’ll be meeting you there.”

I nodded as he walked out of my room.  I finished gearing up, took my Monte Carlo, 1000-Yard Stare, and Choleric Dragon SRT-49, and left my apartment.  I was listening to some pre-Golden Age music records that I had found a long time back, the date on the record somewhere in the 1940s.  But it was Frank Sinatra, and the jazzy, vocal pop vibes gave me a sense of freedom and never failed to calm me down.  I met Skinner in the Hanger, my heart feeling lighter, my hope for victory stronger.  Light always prevails in Darkness.  For there is no darkness without light.

“Well, you seem to be in a better mood than just about everyone I know,”  Skinner commented as he approached me.  “Nice to see that someone on our team is hopeful.”

I smiled at him, but it was hollow.  I could feel the pit in my stomach growing.  “I have to hold tightly onto my hope,”  I said.  “Without hope…”  I looked away from him.  “Without hope, I have nothing left.”

“Aww, c’mon, Storm, don’t say that.  You have me.  And you have Maverick.”  He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a hug from the side.

“I know,” I said.  “You guys… you are my hope.  You’re my family, you know that?”

“Yeah.  And you’re mine, too, Punchy.”

I laughed aloud.  “We should get into orbit.  Maverick’s expecting us.”

The Hunter nodded and we walked up to Amanda.  He gave the Shipwright Maverick’s ship codes, and we boarded.  Skinner took his place in the co-pilot seat and I took my seat behind the pilot’s seat.  He flipped all of the switches the ship hummed to life.  We waited for Maverick in orbit, in silence and mutual discomfort of what was to come.

Twenty minutes later, Maverick appeared on board.  He walked up into the cockpit with Skinner, gently kissing the top of my head as he passed by.  He took his place at the pilot controls and plotted our course for the Dreadnaught.  Before we left, he turned in his seat to look at us.  “Listen, I know…. I know I’ve been a shitty fireteam leader lately.  But no matter what, we are going in there as a team, and we stick together.  No matter what.”

“Semper fi,”  Skinner said.  We both looked at him with our heads tilted.  It sounded oddly familiar, like I knew what it was, but I wasn’t sure where it was from.  “Oh… it’s a pre-Golden Age saying from America in one of their defense divisions.  Marines, I think?  It means ‘Ever Faithful, Ever Loyal’.”

I smiled.  Of course, that’s where I heard it.  I had read about it in some old American war papers and it sounded off in my dreams.  “Oorah.”

“You’ve heard it?”

“In a distant dream, like a memory of my past.”

Maverick grinned.  “Alright team, let’s finish this.”  

He turned back to the controls and Skinner turned back to his, then we made the jump from Earth to the Rings of Saturn.  The entire time, we were all in silence.  Despite our overall sense of confidence in our abilities, it was clear that we were all on edge.  We landed in the Hull Breach, and the Vanguard channel started to come through, loud and clear.

“All of this was set in motion long ago,”  Eris said, sounding just as depressing as usual.  “He calls out, and the Darkness answers.”

“Okaay!”  Cayde cut in.  “Creepy sidekick.  Check.  Roguish commander.  Check.  And then we have the Fireteam, my greatest success story.  I'd say we're ready to get this done.”

“Push back the dark,”  Eris continued.  “End it.”

“She’s right, Fireteam.  There’s no doubt in my mind this could possibly work.  Now, get to that rupture.”

Maverick took the lead, motioning us to follow him.  And we did, straight through the wrecked Cabal ship to the Mausoleum.  When we got into the area, Cabal and Hive were fighting each other, along with Taken that were starting to pollute the area. We had to fight our way to the rupture.  It was never easy.

“Okay, this is where the Rupture should be,”  Maverick said as we approached the dias that we last fought the Echo of Oryx.

“Get it open!”  Cayde insisted.  “Once you’re through, send your coordinates.  We’ll lock down your signal and deploy reinforcements.”

As we approached, Maverick pulled out the Crystal.  The Rupture opened abruptly, making us all jump back ever so slightly.  

“The rupture can sense the soul you hold.  You are Ascendant!”  Eris exclaimed.

“Time to go kill a king, eh, Fireteam?  Good luck.”

Maverick turned around to look at us.  Skinner reloaded his shotgun and pumped it, ready for whatever army was on the other side.  “Well,” he said.  “I’m ready when you are.”

He looked at me directly, and I could feel his worry, but I didn’t want to let him feel mine.  I gave him a nod.  “Let’s go.”  

The moment we passed through that Rupture, with no exit behind us and nothing but static on all of the feeds, I got that sick feeling in my stomach again.  I was right.  We were trapped here.  “We’re going to have to finish this on our own,”  I said quietly.  “All of the feeds are dead and my Ghosts scans are returning nothing.”

We started to proceed forwards.  The only clear path was down this long hallway. Lanterns that lined the sides lit up as we passed by them.  Something about this place, the way it acknowledged our presence… it was like there was always going to be eyes on us.  That something was watching.

“We’re definitely… somewhere,” Maverick said as we slowed down.  He turned to look behind us at the lit lanterns that emitted an ominous yellow-orange glow.  “No sign of Oryx.”

As we approached the end of the hall, the ball of Taken energy, the one that led us here, the one that led my team on Phobos, appeared.

“Hey, Maverick, remember that bad feeling I told you about?”  I said as I held fast to my gun.  “It’s getting worse.”

“I hear you,”  he replied.  “Let’s just keep moving.  We’re bound to find Oryx somewhere in here.”

As we approached the Taken light, it fled further down the hallway, down the stairs and to the space between the pair of steps.  Skinner scoffed.  “Well, now we know we have his attention.  Hi, Oryx, you murderous bastard.”  I followed the two of them down, pausing a moment to gaze down scope at the platforms across the chasm.  They were empty, then again, the entire area was.  Like a stage.  The moment we reached the orb, Taken started to spawn in the room.  Immediately, Maverick started calling out orders.

“Skinner, on my six!”  He shouted.  “Storm, get up high and take out those snipers!”

Skinner nodded and ran down the steps with Maverick.  I ran back up and crouched at the top, positioned my sniper at my shoulder, and started taking out the Taken Hobgoblins.  One by one, they disappeared into nothing, but I had to take cover after every kill because they would send three projectiles at my location.  As I took out the last one, I opened the feed with Maverick and Skinner.  “How’s it going down there boys?” I asked as I peeked around the corner.  I started to snipe down what I could while they were running around like madmen, killing all of the Taken they set eyes on.

“Be better if you weren’t stealing all of my kills,” Skinner laughed.  It was obvious that he felt better now that he was finally getting some action out there.  While he was distracted stabbing a Psion, I sniped the Knight that had crept up behind him, finally ending the battle.  Skinner turned around and looked up at me.  “Really?  I had him!”

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” I chuckled.  I started to walk down to join the two of them.  Maverick gently clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“Nice shot, Storm.  Now let’s keep moving.  Oryx must be deeper inside.”  We walked up the stairs to the upper platform, and stood before a door that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.  We must have stood there for maybe a full thirty seconds before it opened for us, making me more and more anxious the longer we had to wait.  But when it finally did open, we walked through into the adjoining room, where another alter hosted a rupture.  However, before we even got far into the room, a Shadow of Oryx appeared, his voice screaming in both the room and taking over our comms.

“You… are the last hope of the Light?”  Oryx said as he gazed over our team.  “I have taken entire worlds!  You are not worthy to face me!”  The shadow disappeared and the rupture opened.  Ta’aun, the Hand of Oryx, the same Centurion that we saw him take in our first trip to the dreadnaught walked out and immediately began firing down on us.  Maverick crouched down behind some of the barricades in the room, Skinner and I behind another.  We all took turns getting his attention and letting the others shoot him.  Skinner and I were doing most of the damage while Maverick kept him from looking at us.  Before we could kill him, Baxx, the Hand of Oryx, the Ogre he took while we were stealing the Shard of Crota’s crystal on the Moon, walked through the rupture, and it closed behind him.  This just made everything more difficult, as we couldn’t keep damaging and distracting at the same time.

“Any ideas Mav?”  Skinner asked over comms as he dove behind another barricade, somewhat closer to the two Taken Ultras.

“Just one.  You got your Tether?”

“Um, duh.  I’ve had it for like twenty minutes now.  Just waiting for your signal.”

“Good.  Storm, you got your Radiance?”

“Just finished charging up.  I was hoping to keep it charged in case things get dicey when we fight Oryx, though.”

“Fine, keep it.  Skinner, on my mark, tether the two of them.”

“What mark?”

He didn’t need an answer.  Maverick jumped up and pulled a Hammer of Sol out of thin air, the clang of it loud and distinct as solar energy enveloped his body.  Skinner jumped up seconds later, pulling the Void string of his bow back, and shot an arrow right between the two bosses.  They flinched as they were tethered to the arrow’s landing mark, and their mistake was not starting to shoot again.  Maverick threw hammers quickly and precisely, until they fell and disappeared, defeated.  I came out from cover and caught up to the two of them.  

“Wish I could have helped you two better,”  I sighed.

“No worries, it’s better that you save that radiance for a time of need.  There’s only so much those fusion grenades can do.”  Maverick threw his last hammer at the last thrall left in the room.  Shortly after, the rupture reopened, almost like it was welcoming us into it. 

“Well,”  I said as I loaded a few fresh rounds into my sniper.  “Looks like we’re worthy now.”

We walked through the portal and it put us in a very narrow hallway.

“How many more of these damn things do you have to go through?” Skinner asked, irritated.

“I don't know, Skinner, hopefully that was the last one,” Maverick sighed.

We exited the Hall and came out to a big doorway on the other side of a chasm with Hive guarding it. There was no visible way across before Oryx began speaking.

“Come for me Warrior of Light! I will finish what Crota began!” As he finished speaking, the Hive guarding the door ran through it as if they were summoned back. As the last of the Hive went through the door platforms began to materialize. We made our way to them when I motioned for the two of them to stop.

“I'm not going first, not after last time,” I said firmly.  The last time I stepped foot on one of those platforms, it went out from beneath me and I fell to my death.

“Come on Storm, Oryx challenged us and by the Sword Logic he can't play dirty. At least he's not supposed too.” Mav said hopefully, “Eris said so.”

“Fine, but if this bridge fades from existence, I'm jumping off,” I said.

“Good luck with that Warlock,” Skinner mocked.  I lifted my gun his way then towards the bridge, and he held up his hands in defense, but laughed and went first anyway.  We walked across the bridge and stopped in front of the door.  Two giant carvings of stone on either side.

“Hold on,” I said and pulled out my Ghost, “Peu de lumière, who are these carving for?”

“Well obviously one of them is for Crota's,” she while she examined the one on the right, “but this one, there isn't anything in the World's Grave on it, but the engraved name just says Nokris.”

We walked through the giant door and were met with another carving.

“Let me guess this one is Oryx?”  Mav said.

“Yes it is.” 

We walked around the statue to a Taken flame on the ground.

“Oooh! I want to touch it!” Skinner shouted gleefully and ran toward the flame.  Before Maverick could stop him, he was close to it and it shot down the hall, and it left a trail behind it.  Then it ran up the door and it made a symbol, Oryx’s symbol.  It glowed white then darkened to a reddish-orange color before the door opened.  And there stood the Hive King, standing there covering the room in Darkness, chanting some kind of ritual.  I couldn’t see him, but we could sense his presence in the room.

"This is it, this is where it ends."  Maverick said, "let’s go guys."  Maverick took out his Necrochasm, the weapon he obtained from killing Crota.  It was almost fitting.  As the door closed behind us, the Darkness rushed to Oryx.

"At last!" He yelled as his sword levitated up from the ground and he grabbed it effortlessly.  "I will have vengeance!  It will feel good to kill the two Light Warriors who killed my kin!" He then glanced at me and I could feel his three eyes burning into my soul, so I positioned my rocket launcher on my shoulder.  "And a third as a trophy."  I closed my eyes for a brief moment.  He knew. 

“Maverick,”  I said over our private channel, my voice almost shaking.  “He knows.  He knows I survived Phobos.”

Before Oryx could make his next more, out of pure rage Maverick took out another round of Hammers of Sol.  But just before the first hammer collided, I felt all of my energy drain and I stumbled, as did Skinner.  The Hunter grabbed hold of my arm and dragged me behind cover.  When Maverick’s hammers were spent, he jumped behind cover with us.

"What happened? What did he do?"

"I don't know," Skinner said 

"It felt like he was draining my Light." I said.

"Your Traveler's Light can not reach you here!" Oryx taunted.

"If he keeps doing that I don't know if I'll have my Radiance for when I need it."

Oryx once again began the ritual and targeted Maverick with it, so he took out his Gjallarhorn and shot a rocket at him, breaking his focus once more. And he vanished and summoned Taken to take over.

"Yeah." Maverick said bitterly.  He must have had his light drained. " That's unpleasant, but let's kill these Taken and draw him out again."  It was more Acolytes and Hobgoblins.  We killed them without a problem, though it almost felt too easy.  Oryx then appeared to the right of the room and beckoned to us,  "What you call Darkness is the end of your evolution." He then raised his hand and the air around Maverick started to crackle, and before we knew it, hot, taken energy exploded right where he was standing, moments after he was able to dive out of the way, but the armor on his shoulder was singed and he looked hurt.

"Mav! You alright?" Skinner asked.

"I'm fine, just focus on Oryx!" he shouted.

Skinner and I both fired on him, and I emptied the last of my rockets into his skull, and yet he barely flinched.  Oryx summoned Taken Captains and Psions to keep us busy as he began his ritual again, this time targeting Skinner. 

“Skinner take cover!”  I shouted, dragging him out of the Captain’s line of fire.

“Storm keep them off me!”  Mav shouted.

“Sure thing,” I said and jumped out of cover and drew the attention of the Taken away by running through them, firing my auto rifle at the Psions and dragging a Captain’s attention away from him.  Maverick was launching more rockets at him, and the tracking clusters broke his focus once more.  We killed off the second round Taken before Oryx began to speak again.

“The Darkness is a gift!” He declared as he appeared at the pool on the outside and summoned Taken Phalanx's and Thrall again.  But instead of trying his luck with a ritual again he started to fight by rushing one of us firing his Darkness blasts and trying to kill us with his sword.  When he tried to attack one of us, the other two would attack on Maverick’s signal.  Once again, he vanished from sight but this time a giant blight formed around the pool of Hive gunk and it went quiet.  No more Taken spawned in the room and Oryx never came outside.  It was absolutely silent.

“What do you think he's planning?”  I asked. 

“I have no idea, but keep you guard up just in case.” Mav said.

Minutes passed and nothing happened. Skinner was just kicking around rocks. “Man, Oryx is being such a…” before he could finish his sentence he was surrounded by Taken energy. “Wh-What the fuck?!” He yelled before disappearing.

“Skinner?!” Maverick and I yelled together.  Maverick ran over to where he was.

“He's… he's gone.” he said.  He started to shake, whether from sadness or rage I couldn’t tell.  “No! I will not fail again!”  He then jumped up and unloaded his magazine at the blight, the magazine emptied in no time but he kept the trigger held down. 

“Maverick!” I said as I walked over to him carefully, placing my hand on his rifle.  I tried to put myself in his line of sight.  Firing into that blight was doing nothing.  “Mav, please just… lower your weapon.  There's nothing we can do, we… we just have to hope he's strong enough to survive whatever is in there.”  He slowly lowered his rifle.

“But… but he's gone Storm, I don't want to lose my best friend to Oryx.”  As his anger passed it was replaced with sadness, and his body language showed it.  His shoulders slumped and his arms dropped to his side.  “Storm I can't lose him, he's one of the only friends I have left.”

“I know Mav, we just have to wait,” I said as I walked him over to a rock and sat down.  I sat down next to him, clutching onto his hands, trying to comfort him, but I felt utterly useless.  It felt like hours past when it was only minutes when Skinner was dropped in front of us. 

“Skinner!”  Maverick yelled as he jumped up to help him stand.  “What happened in there?  What did he do?”  No damage to his armor, but he was out of ammo and his knife was missing.  He must have tried to fight whatever was in there.

He looked up at us and he was visibly shaken. “He…” Skinner swallowed, “he showed me my true fear and doubts.  Mav he's trying to break our wills, so we would be easier to take. Our strong wills and our Light makes it impossible for him to take us.”

“What?  How?”  He asked, but before he could get an answer, the Taken energy surrounded him and he was gone.  I screamed his name and ran towards the blight, but Skinner grabbed my arms and held me back.

“Storm, stop!”  He shouted, holding me tightly as I collapsed to my knees.  “There… There’s nothing we can do.  Mav’s strong, he’ll be fine.”

“No… no…” I could feel myself trembling as Skinner hugged me tightly.  “Skinner… what did you see?”

He was quiet for a long time before he responded.  “Betrayal.”  He mumbled quietly.  “Getting killed by my own team, getting killed by you… Betrayal is the worst when it comes from someone close to you.”

I looked at him, then at the blight.  “We need to get in there,”  I said quietly.  “I know Maverick’s strong, but there is only so much we can take before…”

“I know.”

There is only so much pain, so much trauma we can take before we break.

“Skinner… can you do me a favor?”

“Hmm?”

I took his hand and placed my Ghost in it, and the both of them looked at me suspiciously.  “Keep her safe.”

“Why?”

“Just… just a bad feeling.  I’m going to be next, I know… But in case anything happens to me in there, I don’t want Oryx getting a hold of my Ghost.”

“But if you don’t have your Ghost—”

Just then, Maverick appeared back in the room, standing tall, his rocket settled on his shoulder.  He whipped around as he realized that he was no longer standing in the blight.  Skinner let me go, tucked my Ghost into his vest, and walked over to him, his hands on Maverick’s shoulders before the two of them hugged tightly. 

“You’re okay…” Skinner muttered.

“He showed me our fireteam,”  Mav said quietly.  “I wouldn’t let him break me.  He sees into our minds, if we don’t kill him, he will keep trying to break us, one by one.”

But just as Maverick turned to face me, still on my knees, I watched the two of them get surrounded by the Taken energy and disappear.  “No!” I shouted.  I stood to my feet and started to run towards that blight, but the same energy surrounded me and I was teleported into darkness.  I stood and turned around wildly.  I wasn’t sure where I was.  But the darkness was cold and my skin crawled as if something was touching me, prodding at my mind.  I pulled off my helmet and tossed it aside, and clutched tightly onto my head.

I tried to block him out.

“You are weak,”  Oryx’s voice echoed all around me.  “You could not save them.”  

When I turned around, Gilly’s and Adam’s bodies were lying on the ground.  I felt my skin crawl at the sight of them, especially since I could see Adam’s face.  “You can’t break me!”  I screamed into the darkness.  My voice betrayed me and cracked with fear.  He knew everything.  I could feel his presence like tendrils pressing against my consciousness.  I tried to push him out, to ignore his presence, but it was still there, still pushing against me.  Any energy I could muster up to resist was being drained immediately.

“You let your grief consume you.  You are a shell of who you were.”

“I am not weak!”

“You have nothing left.”

“I have my team!”  I kept spinning in circles, watching, waiting for Oryx to show himself to me.  But then I saw it, and I froze.  My blood ran cold.  “That… that… can’t be.”  On the ground were the torn up Titan Mark and Hunter Cloak that Maverick and Skinner were wearing.  I ran over and picked them up, and sure enough they were real.  Tears spilled over onto my cheeks.  “No, they can’t be…”  I collapsed to my knees.  “They can’t be…” 

“They have fallen, another team you could not save.”

“Why?!”  I screamed into the dark abyss.  I could feel my heart breaking, all of the walls around me were crumbling.  I could feel Oryx prodding at my mind, but I couldn’t fight him anymore.  Without my Ghost, I was barely holding onto the Light that I had left.  I pulled off my helmet because I could barely breathe over the lump in my throat.  I couldn’t stop shaking and I clutched Maverick’s mark to my chest.  “Mon chérie, je suis désolé.  Je t'ai manqué.  Je t'ai laissé tomber.  Pardonne-moi.  Pardonne-moi…”*  I raised my eyes, and there he was.  Oryx loomed over me.  I reached for my gun, but I could barely hold it straight.  

For the first time in my years as a Guardian, I felt truly afraid.  

More afraid than I had felt on Phobos.

I stood shakily to my feet and backed away from him slowly.  “Je ne vais pas casser,”**  I spat out, like a curse.

“Why let your grief consume you?”  Oryx’s voice sounded... oddly soothing.  I mentally shook myself and tightened my grip on my gun.  I tried so hard to hold it steady.  “Why fight for the Sky, when the Sky gives nothing to you?”  

Oryx continued to move towards me, the flap of his bat-like wings knocked me back.  Every time I was knocked back, I pushed myself back onto my feet, but each time it was harder to stand than the last.  “Lay down your grief and your struggle, survivor of Phobos.”  He reached his hand out towards me, and I looked at the taken energy in his claws.  “Let my Will set you free!” 

I screamed loudly as my body was enveloped by pain.  I could see the Taken energy that started at my chest and spread outwards.  It felt like my soul was being ripped from my body.  It felt like my blood was freezing as the corruption spread, but I couldn’t fight it.  I didn’t have the willpower or the strength.  I fell on my knees and clutched my chest.

“Arrête ça!”  I screamed.  “Arrête ça!”***  

When the corruption finished spreading and Oryx picked me up by my throat, I only had a small, weak grasp left on my consciousness and my Light.  I didn’t even fight him.  When he let me go I collapsed to the ground.  When I looked up I saw that I was no longer surrounded by darkness, but instead surrounded by mist.  There was an urge in me, something primal and unfamiliar.  

An urge to kill, an urge to feed.

—————

You are a Guardian, Oryx’s voice echoed in my head.  Chosen from the dead by one of the Traveler’s Ghosts, you are a warrior forged in Light, a final hope in a universe falling into Darkness.  

You have been Taken.  

Put down your sniper, lay down your sword, let go of your Light.  Your purpose is no longer to defend.  Give them pain.  There is Magic for you, and a Knife imbued with it.  Give them their end.  You are judge, jury, and executioner. Take up the knife and use it.  

Take your new shape.

—————

I started to stand slowly.  There was a knife in my hand, the blade glowing white.  My hands and arms were filled with starlight.  This isn’t right, I thought to myself.  This isn’t you, Genesis.  You are Genesis Page, you are a warrior, you can fight—

Oryx’s voice became louder and broke my train of thought.  Deliver their pain.  Deliver their end!  Let my Will set you free!

“Genesis, no!”

I whipped around and ran towards the sound.  I didn’t even think.  I saw two figures in front of me, two targets, two Light Warriors to end.  I raised the knife, but the one in front of me was a Hunter, quick and stealthy, he was strong and held my wrist in the air.  I punched him in the gut, making him flinch and let me go, but he dodged backwards before I could land a blow.  The two of them wrestled me to the ground and I screamed in pain as the Titan knelt down on top of me, pinning my arm to the ground with his hand and his knee dug into my chest.  The Hunter held my other arm down and ripped the knife out of my hand.  I gazed up at the Titan as he pulled off his helmet and then pressed one of his hands down on my shoulder. 

“Angel,”  he said.  His voice sounded so familiar.  “Angel, I know you’re in there.”

Kill them.  Kill them!

I tried to move and look away from him, but his hands moved my face back to him and he held my face in place.  Since he let go of my arm, I reached up, but I couldn’t reach for his throat, I could only push back on his shoulder.  “Angel, it’s Maverick!  Fight him!  Fight!”

I felt something in me click, like a switch turning. I blinked rapidly and my heart thumped painfully in my throat.  “What?”  My own voice sounded foreign and distorted.  My grip on his shoulder weakened.

“Maverick.  It’s Maverick, you know me!  Do you remember Venus?  And Detroit?  What about last night?  Do you know me?”

“I—  I—”  Before I could say anything, I felt a flash of pain over my entire body, like the corruption was spreading further and deeper into me, and I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.

“Her Ghost, Skinner, now!”

All of a sudden, a bit of my strength returned and my eyes shot open.  In one final attempt to break free, I pushed them off of me, scrambled away from the two of them, grabbed the knife that Oryx had gifted me, and drove it through my stomach.

---translations---

* “My sweetheart, I’m sorry.  I failed you.  I let you down. Forgive me... forgive me...”

** “I will not break.”

*** “Stop it!” I screamed.  “Stop it!”

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXX

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 30 : Trepidation  masterlist

word count : 1.2K tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet

When I finally got home, I was chilled to the bone and soaked through my clothes.  The rain had only gotten heavier as the night went on.  I ran a warm bath to warm up before I did some painting and went to bed.  As I soaked in the water, I could feel dread starting to grip my heart and make a pit form in my stomach.  Our mission in the morning posed so much risk.  So much could go wrong.

I walked downstairs after drying my hair and putting on the sweats and tee that I had snagged from Maverick a week ago when I stayed at his place.  I set up my painting table in front of one of the blank walls of my apartment. I pulled a sketch out of my journal and clipped it to my easel.  It was a sketch I had done a couple of weeks back when Maverick and I went to his secret hideout on Venus.  The view we had there was something I would never forget, but I wanted to immortalize it on my walls.  I only got through the base colors by the time the sun had set and I was starting to feel tired.  I sat back on my stool and yawned aloud, arms outstretched over my head.  

Unfortunately, there was still a pit deep in my stomach that left me feeling unsettled by the time I finally climbed into bed.

The entire night I kept tossing and turning.  I could barely sleep.  Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Adam, Gilly, or Maverick.  Adam’s face was always covered in blood and there was a resigned look in his green eyes, like he had accepted that death was his fate.  Gilly’s body was beaten and broken, just like he was when I found him on Phobos.  And Maverick…  all I could see was him surrounded by Taken as he sent us away.  I sat up in bed and ran my hands through my hair.

“Peu de lumiere?”  I called out.  She appeared in the room beside me, her eye a comforting blue glow in the room.

“Yes, Guardian?”

“Open a channel with Maverick, please.”

She gave me a small bob for a nod, then opened up the communication link.  I waited for him as I sat in silence, hugging myself for warmth.

“Yeah?”  Maverick finally answered.  He sounded distracted, like he was in the middle of doing something.  I opened my mouth to answer, but no words would come out.  I had no words to say.  “Angel?”  His voice was laced with concern now.  “Angel, are you there?”

I swallowed hard to try and clear the lump in my throat.  “Yeah…”  my voice was raspy and barely a whisper.  “Mon cherie…”

There was silence for a moment.  “I’m on my way,”  He said and closed the link.

I sat there in silence for a moment in disbelief.  How did he know?  I leaned back against the wall for a moment, then went downstairs and unlocked the door for him.  Before I even got halfway back up the stairs, I heard the door open and close.  I turned around and there he was, armored up, but he was already starting to remove his helmet.

“I could tell something was wrong so I got here as quickly as I could.  Is everything alright?”

I simply shook my head and motioned for him to follow me.  He was right behind me as we went upstairs.  He followed me into my room and I walked up to the windows.  The only lights in here were coming from the City outside.  Everyone slept peacefully, unaware of what waited for them outside of the walls.  No one knew of our mission tomorrow.  No one knew how much was at risk.  Maverick set his helmet down on top of one of my many piles of books.  He proceeded to remove the rest of his armor, then finally walked up beside me.  He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, and I think he noticed that I was clutching onto the sleeves of the clothes he let me wear that I never returned.

“Angel, what’s wrong?”  He pressed.  I shrugged my shoulders, but I could feel tears starting to burn in my eyes.  I covered my mouth with one hand.  Without a word, he gently guided me back over to my bed and we sat down side by side.  He wrapped his arms around me.

“Can’t sleep?  Nightmares again?”  He asked.

I nodded slowly and lowered my hand.  “They’re getting worse.  So much is on our shoulders.  The weight of the world… the fate of humanity…”

He sighed, but nodded in understanding.  “It’s almost over.”

“Maverick, what if we can’t get back?”  I asked.  “If we go through that portal, and it locks us inside without any communication with the Vanguard, are we going to be stuck in there?  If anything happens to any of us in there, and we don’t make it out, no one will ever know.  I can’t bear the thought of one of us not making it out…” 

“Stop it!”  He snapped.  He reached up and held the sides of my face and gazed into my eyes.  “We will make it out, we will put an end to this, and we will succeed.  Do you understand me?”  His voice was stern, but I could see the concern in his eyes.  He was worried, too.

I took a few deep breaths and then gave him a small nod once I had calmed down.  “Okay,”  I mumbled.  “I trust you, mon cherie, I trust you.”

He nodded and pulled me close against his chest.  I sank into the warmth of his embrace.  After several minutes of silence, I could feel my eyelids growing heavy.  Maverick noticed this, so he helped me climb into bed and tucked me in.  But still, I was terrified to go to sleep.  I reached out and gently grabbed onto his hand.  The Exo Titan stopped and turned to look back at me, but there was a semblance of understanding in his expression.

“Tread carefully, Genesis…”  My Ghost warned.  I ignored her completely.

“Please, don’t leave,”  I whispered softly.

He smiled, then climbed into the bed beside me.  We cuddled up together without hesitation, like it was the most natural thing to do.  His arms wrapped lazily around my hips and I curled up against his chest.  Even Maverick let out a yawn.

“Wow…”  I said with a small giggle.  “Even you’re tired.”

“Well, it has been a very, very long past couple of days.  And I do still need to sleep to let my system recharge.  And I won’t lie, there is nothing more I want to do right now than to spend a night with you here.”

I smiled and closed my eyes as his mouth piece pressed against my head.  I looked up at him and gently pressed my lips onto his, relishing in this moment of peace that we had together before the chaos began again.

We finally parted and I tucked my head against his chest.  “Good night, mon cherie,”  I mumbled softly.

“Good night, Angel.”

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXIX

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 29 : Vision masterlist

word count : 3.2K tag list: @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @galagd @speed-boop @lady-efriyeet​

We landed in the Hanger, greeted by the Vanguard and Eris.  I pulled off my helmet and walked straight by them.  My eyes were still puffy from all of the crying.  

“Genesis…” Ikora said, and reached out to grab my arm, but I moved out of her reach.  “Guardian.”  She followed me out of the Hanger, and managed to stop me in the hall between the hanger and the plaza.  “Genesis, stop!”  She demanded.  I stopped in place and turned around to face her.  She took one look at my face and I saw her expression soften.

“What happened on the Moon?”

I gazed at her, but I felt like I was void of emotion.  “Ikora,”  I said quietly.  “Your Vanguard built a team of Guardians who are fueled by both grief and vengeance.  Maverick sent Skinner and I away in the hopes that we would make it out alive and he was willing to die in there.  We could have helped him.  He’s only alive because Eris pulled him out with some kind of dark magic.”  I took a step back and shook my head.  “And you wonder why I have issues trusting people.  The moment I let myself get close, I lose them.”

“But you didn’t lose him, Genesis,”  she said.  “He’s alive.”

“Today.  He made it out alive, today.  But what about tomorrow?  Or the next time our situation gets tight?”

I walked away before waiting for her response.  It was raining in the Last City.  I didn’t even stop at the Postmaster, I just took the elevator down to the City and went straight home.  When I got home, I stripped out of my armor and took a long, very much needed hot shower.  Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Maverick just before he sent Skinner and I to safety.  His sacrifice for us could have cost him his life, and we wouldn't have even known.  I shuddered at the thought of that.  If he had died in there, Skinner and I would still be on the Moon waiting for him, and this war would be lost.

I stepped out of the shower and dried off, then slipped into something more comfortable.  I grabbed my glimmer and walked back downstairs, piled my armor on the coffee table, tied my hair up out of my face, and started to clean everything.  I had my Ghost put on some music to help me drown out any outside noise.  While cleaning my robes, I found the dead Ghost I had tucked inside.  I almost forgot about it.  I cleaned off any remains of the Wizard’s ashes and set it inside the drawer of my side table for safe keeping.

Halfway through cleaning my gauntlets, there was a knock on my door.  I paused for a minute before answering, despite not wanting to see anyone right now.  When I opened the door, Maverick stood outside, hands shoved in his pockets, hood pulled over his head to protect himself from the rain.  I took one look at him and started to close the door immediately. 

“Angel, wait,” he said quickly, his hand catching the door before I could close it.  “I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer.”

“I know,” I said.  “I really don’t want to talk right now, Maverick…”

“Which is exactly why we have to,”  he pleaded.

“I don’t have to do anything!” 

“Angel, please.”  He looked down at me, red eyes staring deep into mine.  My shoulders sank and I sighed, and released my hand off of the door.  He stepped inside and closed the door behind himself, then pulled off his soaked sweatshirt.

“What do you need, Maverick?”  I asked as I walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch.  I picked up where I left off with my gauntlets.  I didn’t even want to look at him.  He must have noticed this because I heard him sigh before he walked over and took the glimmer and gauntlet out of my hands, set them down, and then sat down next to me. I just sat there for a moment, empty hands still where they had been, before I sighed and let them drop in my lap.

“Angel, I’m sorry,” he started, and gently took hold of my hands.  

I pulled my hands out of his and stood, and walked over to the window.  I hugged myself tightly.  I hated being this cold to him, but I couldn’t forgive him for what he did.  “Are you?”  I accused.  “What are you sorry for?”

“For thinking that sending you out of there was the best thing I could do!”  He shouted.  I winced at the sound of anger in his voice.  “For thinking that I could maybe accept the fact that I let my old team die if I saved you guys.”  His hands gently placed on my shoulders and turned me around to face him.  I gazed up at him, though it was obvious that I was still trying to avoid his gaze  “I get that you’re angry,” he said in a softer tone.  “I get that what I did wasn’t right.”

“You’re damn right it wasn’t right,” I muttered.

“It… it wasn't fair to you.”

I felt tears start to bud at the corners of my eyes.  I averted my gaze and pulled away from the Exo.  “I thought you were dead, Maverick,”  I said, my voice tense and choked by tears.  I walked across the room to give myself some distance.  “I thought you were gone.  It was like Phobos all over again.  What were you thinking?!”  I picked up a book from the table and turned, throwing it at him even though I missed.  “We are a team, you idiot!”  I chucked one of the throw pillows on my couch at him, and it bounced pathetically off his chest.  “Teams don’t split up!  Teams don’t take on literal hordes of enemies alone!  Teams trust each other to have their back!”  I grabbed my cup of coffee and threw it at him, missed again, and it shattered against the wall.  “I can’t believe you!  You could have died there, and Skinner and I would never have known!” 

“I know, but if you would just listen to me for a sec—” Maverick started to approach me slowly, his hands held out in surrender.

“No!” I shouted.  “You listen to me!”  I started to feel lightheaded from all of the shouting and crying.  “You promised me that you would never leave me.  I trust you to have my back, no matter what.”  He was standing directly in front of me now, gently took hold of my wrists, and helped me sit down before my legs could give out.  I took a deep breath and sighed.  “Mon chérie, I trust you with everything, in the field and out of it.   But can you trust me?”

His hand brushed my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear.  “I do,” he said quietly.  Relief flooded over my body.  “It was… it was just that place.  I lost everyone that I cared about there.  I… I didn’t want to lose anyone else.”

“And we didn’t want to lose you.  You’re not a one man band, Mav, you understand that, right?”

He looked down and gave me a silent nod.

I pulled my hands away and wiped my cheeks dry.  “Promise me, Maverick, you won’t ever do that to me again.  I cannot lose you, mon amour, it would be the end of me.”

“I promise, Angel.  I don’t want to risk losing you again.”

He pulled me against his chest in an embrace.  I welcomed it without hesitation and nestled myself against him.  He held onto me tightly, like I would slip away if he let me go.

After minutes of silence and reconciliation, I had finally found it in me to forgive him.

—————

“Oh!”  I exclaimed after we spent some time relaxing.  “I almost forgot!”  I sat up and reached over Maverick to the end table, then pulled out the Ghost.  “When we first landed, one of the Wizards you killed dropped this.  I tried to get your attention to tell you guys, but you were so focused on the mission that… you dismissed me.”  I sat back down and held it out for Maverick.  The look on his face was unmistakable:  he knew who’s Ghost it was.

“This… This was Vision’s Ghost,”  he said as he took it from my hands.  “It was taken by a Wizard in the Abyss.  One of the Wizards we killed…. it dropped this?”

“Yes it did drop it, I had to brush it off, though it was still covered in the Wizard’s ashes.” I said.

“Hold on,” he said and pulled out his Ghost.  “Open a line with Skinner.” He put his Ghost on an open call so I could hear.

“What do you want Mav?” Skinner asked.  He sounded annoyed.

“You have Vision’s current address right?”

“Yeah, I’m actually with him now so I’ll call you back.”

“I have his Ghost.” Mav blurted before he could hang up.  Skinner must have had us an open call as well, because a second person on Skinner’s end of the call butt in. It must have been Vision.

“He what!?”  Vision shouted.  “Maverick you get your ass over here right now! Skinner send him the address.”

“Alright!  Here’s the address, Mav, don’t be late.” Skinner said before cutting the channel.

We sat in silence for a moment.  “So I finally get to meet Vision?” I asked.

“And I get to see him for the first time since the Pit,” he replied, though his voice was laced with concern and worry.

“Come on, Maverick, he’ll be happy to see you,” I reassured him.  “Where’s the address placing him?”

“In the part of the City for Ex-Guardians, Guardians that have either lost their Light or aren’t mentally fit for active duty anymore.”

“Oh they made a part of the city for just them?” I was intrigued.  I had no idea that the Vanguard had organized this for Guardians that were essentially discharged from the Vanguard, or Lightless.  “Why?”

“A lot of them are unstable.  Being faced with your own mortality takes a toll after a while, you know?  We should be heading out, though, the storm is only supposed to get worse and I don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Well then, let’s get ready and go.”

I grabbed a jacket and pulled up the hood, and slipped Vision’s ghost in my pocket.  Maverick pulled his sweatshirt back on as I slipped on my combat boots.  Maverick waited for me on the front steps while I closed up the apartment.  We started down the street; I was pressed close to Maverick’s side.  I took his hand and squeezed it gently, trying to give him a feeling of reassurance.  He squeezed my hand back, but I could tell he was nervous and hesitant.

—————

By the time we made it to the sector, it was down pouring.  I was wearing a windbreaker, but I was chilled to the bone.  Water dripped off my hood and down my nose.  I crossed my arms and hugged myself as Maverick approached the Guard post that was at the gate.  This sector really was secluded and set apart from the rest of the city, it was almost a pity that these Guardians were stuck here.

“Who will you be seeing today, Guardian?” the watchmen asked.

“Samuel, from Fireteam Insurgent, I’m Maverick-8, the Fireteam’s leader,”  Maverick replied.  The watchman’s eyes widened.

“Oh, um, hold on.” he said before walking into the booth.

He walked out a few minutes later. “He’s waiting for you at the address he gave you. You may proceed.” he said as the gate opened.

“Thank you.” Maverick turned and motioned for me to follow him.  I walked up and followed close behind him, nodding to the watchman.  He looked like he wanted to stop me and ask for my identification, but seeing as I was with Maverick, he didn’t ask questions.

We walked the streets through the pouring rain.  My breath puffed out in front of me in a thin white cloud.  Maverick wrapped an arm around my shoulders.  “I promise, we’re almost there,” he said quietly.  

Most houses were lit inside, though almost everyone’s curtains were drawn closed.  The people here seemed to like their seclusion, at least.  I wouldn’t blame them, though.  They had lost everything, and weren’t able to move on.  If I hadn’t met Maverick and Skinner, I would probably be living here, too.  I plunged my hands into  my pockets and grasped tightly onto Vision’s Ghost.  I didn’t have the chance to give my friends a proper burial, nor could I ever return their Ghosts to them.  I wanted to believe that giving Vision his Ghost would allow me to reconcile that.

We arrived at a small duplex, the lawn was uncut, but the house itself was very well maintained.  Vision seemed to take pride in keeping the house in shape.  It was probably one of the few things he had left that he could control.  Maverick and I climbed the steps, the Titan in front of me, and he knocked on the door.  Skinner opened it.  There was a cold stare in his eyes as he laid eyes on Mav.  It was obvious he still hadn’t forgiven him for what happened in the Hellmouth.  He looked over at me and nodded.  

“I see you two have made up,”  he said.  “Storm, wait here.  It… it’s better if you guys come in one at a time.”  He opened the door up more, and motioned Maverick inside.  Maverick sighed, like he was preparing for the worst, then stepped inside.  Skinner looked at me one more time, gave me a small nod, then closed the door behind him.

I stared at the closed door for a moment.  My heart was pounding.  I felt like an idiot just standing there, staring at the door, so I took a seat on the top step underneath the overhang.  My leg bounced nervously.

“You don’t need to be so nervous,” Dawn said.

I could hear them start arguing inside and I let out a long sigh.  “Are you sure?”  It sounded like Maverick and Vision, with Skinner butting in every now and then.  Their words were muffled, but it sounded like they were arguing about Maverick’s actions in the Hellmouth.

She didn’t give me a response.  I pulled Visions Ghost out of my pocket and gazed down at the empty shell.  It was like holding Adam’s corpse all over again.  I clasped it in both of my hands and gently rested my chin on top of it.  The arguing inside calmed down.  I must have sat outside for five minutes before the door opened.  I turned and looked over my shoulder, but it wasn’t Skinner or Maverick.  

“So you’re the Warlock that took my spot on the team?”  Vision asked.  It was more of a statement than a question.  We both knew the answer.  “I’m Samuel, or just Sam, the team called me Vision.  What’s your name?”

I went to stand up, but Vision came down and sat next to me  “Genesis.  They call me Storm.  Previously, I was called Long Shot.”

“Previously?”

I shifted a bit and looked down at the Ghost in my hands.  “Yeah… previously.  I… I lost my team, too.”

Vision followed my gaze and saw his dead Ghost in my hands.  He didn’t say a word at first, so I reached over and gently took hold of his hand with my free one.  I felt his muscles tense, like he was ready to pull away.  I met his gaze for a moment, waited for him to calm, then looked down again.  I flipped his hand over, opened his palm, and placed the Ghost in his hand.  

“I believe this is yours,”  I said quietly. 

He laughed bitterly.  “Yeah, well, it’s no use to me anymore.  But thanks.  For finding it.”

I smiled at him and nodded.  “It’s only right that it comes back to you.”

We sat in silence for a moment.  It felt… right, actually.  It was almost comforting.  

“Skinner tells me Maverick says he loves you,”  Vision said out of nowhere.  “And that’s saying something for a guy that really can’t feel, but only remembers what feeling is like.”

I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips.  Vision noticed this immediately.  “And clearly, you love him.  He’s a reckless piece of shit, but he’s a damn good leader and friend.  I wish it was just easier for me to tell him that.”

“Well,”  I said and turned to him.  “It wouldn’t be bad if you let him see you every now and then.  He misses you, you know.”

Visions eyebrows raised in shock.  “Really?  He has a funny way of showing it.  While I was trying to get used to being Lightless and almost totally blind, he was off… somewhere.  I thought he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“That’s not true.  He wants to reconnect with you.  You’re still family to him, you know.”  He looked at me skeptically.  I laughed a bit.  “Look, I may have taken your spot on the team, but can anyone ever replace a Titan’s best friend?  Especially if said friend is another Titan?  C’mon, Sam,”  I nudged his shoulder in a playful manner.  “No one could ever really replace you.”

I could tell he wanted to smile, but he just looked away and his expression turned blank.  “Yeah, well, bridges are harder to build after they’ve been burned.”

“Yeah… I know.”  I looked out to the street.  “I should go.  You guys have a lot to talk about, and I don’t want to get in the way of you and Skinner telling Maverick that he needs to stop thinking like a Titan and start thinking like a team leader.”

Now he was laughing.  “You sound like you’ve already tried.”

“Oh I have.  I threw a couple things at him in the process.  Ikora says I have a temper.  I think I got through to him, but he might need a reminder from you guys.”  I stood up and stepped down a couple steps.  I turned and looked at the ex-Guardian who was still sitting there, his hands gripping tightly to his dead Ghost.  “It was nice to finally meet you, Samuel.”

“Vision,”  he said firmly.  “I said the team calls me Vision.  You are a part of the team now, Storm.  Don’t forget that.”

I nodded and smiled at him.  “I know,”  I said quietly.  I looked past him and caught a glimpse of Skinner and Maverick in the window before they scurried away from it.  I turned my attention back to Vision.  “If it wasn’t for this team, I’d be living here, too.  Bonne nuit, mon ami.”  There was a look of disbelief in his eyes for a moment, but I left before he could respond.

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXVIII

Part I of the Destined Series Chapter 28: Last Rites masterlist

word count : 3.8k tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop​

I armored up the next morning, just after sunrise, and didn’t even make myself a cup of coffee.  I only slept for a few hours, but I had been tossing and turning all night.  Cayde and Amanda had worked all night to modify the stealth tech, and it was dropped off at Maverick’s earlier this morning.  We were all meeting there to install the tech, then going to orbit to head towards the moon.

I left my apartment and walked to Maverick’s.  The air was chilly and a thin mist hung in the air after last night’s storm.  It almost suited the situation.  I arrived at Maverick’s apartment and knocked on the door, and Skinner answered it almost instantly.  

“What took you so long?”  He said in a teasing tone, but stepped aside to let me in.

I held up a finger to silence him as I stepped inside.  “Shh… I skipped out on coffee to get here as soon as possible.”

“And that is why I have a pot on for you.”  Maverick was hunched over, doing some final adjustments on his boots.  I smiled softly and walked over to him, gently squeezed his shoulder, and kissed his head

“Thank you, you are a lifesaver.”

“Genny, send your Ghost over here,” Skinner called from the living room.  After I poured a cup of black coffee, I held out my hand, my Ghost appeared and flew over to Skinner.  He gently grabbed her out of the air, and held out his own Ghost.  He was reading a code that his Ghost was displaying, and started to input it into my Ghost’s interface.

“Is that the stealth code?”  I asked and took a sip of coffee.  

“Yup.  Maverick and I took a while to figure out how to get them to work with our Ghosts, but it’s easier for me to install it on yours since I know how to this time.”

“Thanks, Skinner.”

Silence fell over the room.  I could feel the tension rising in the room and I shifted uncomfortably.  I could tell neither of them wanted to go back there.  

“Alright, there you go.”  Skinner sent my Ghost back over to me. 

“Do the codes work?”

“Yup,”  Maverick said.  “We tried them out earlier.  We should be all set to go back to the Hellmouth.”

I looked between the two of them, and they both looked equally uneasy.  “Then let’s go,” I said firmly and finished off my cup of coffee.  I knew I wasn’t the Fireteam leader, but someone had to get these two out of the apartment and onto our ships.  “The sooner, the better.”

————— 

The three of us stood at the beginning of the Abyss, Maverick and Skinner were standing side by side ahead of me, their hands holding fast onto their weapons even though there wasn’t an enemy in sight.  We approached a platform where two Wizards were chanting, but before I could even react, the Hunter and Titan unloaded their guns and the Wizards collapsed into piles of ash.  I looked at them warily, but gave them a small nod regardless.  I noticed something in one of the piles, the glint of something lost ages before.  I approached the pile and brushed the ashes aside, revealing a dead Ghost.  My eyes widened.

“Guys, what do you make of this?” I called out to them.  No response.  “Skinner?  Maverick?”  I looked up and saw that they were standing on the glowing plate, waiting for the bridge across the Abyss to form so that we could enter the Keyhole into Crota’s throne world.  “Hey!  Guys!”

“Please, Storm, let’s just get Crota’s essence and leave.   I don’t want to come back here ever again,”  Maverick said with a sigh.  He didn’t even turn to look at me.  He was in total focus mode on this mission.

“Yeah that would be great.” Skinner added.

I sighed in defeat, but tucked the Ghost into my robes for safe keeping.  The Vanguard could identify whose Ghost it was if Maverick and Skinner didn’t know.  I joined them on the plate. “Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll just show you back at the ship.”

“Okay,” Cayde began over the Vanguard channel.  “You’ve got the crystal.  All you have to do now is fill it with Crota’s soul.  The Hive are in the middle of some kind of funeral, so-”

“Not a funeral, a death ceremony,” Eris cut in.  “Crota’s essence is being prepared for the next realm.”

“Right,” Cayde resumed.  “So when you get to this ‘funeral’, Oryx will be watching close. Use Rasputian’s cloak to slip past the Taken.  Find Crota’s soul, wrap it up, and get out.”

The bridge fully formed and solidified.  I followed behind Maverick and Skinner as they began to cross.  I stayed close to them with a firm grip on my hand cannon.

“Where exactly are we headed?” I asked, more toward Eris than my fireteam.

“When the Deathsingers begin their song, you’ll know we are close.”

“What she’s trying to say is that she doesn’t know. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my ear to the ground.” Cayde added.

“And I will try not to step on his head.” Eris commented.

I chuckled a bit at her comment, but Skinner and Mav didn’t even react.

Halfway toward the Keyhole, Cayde started again, “Stay out of sight, fireteam.  We need you guys back alive. Ghosts, you have the frequency?”

“And your… modifications. We’ll be ready.”  Mav’s Ghost said with doubt.  None of us could blame him.  Cayde’s modifications tend to have… malfunctions.

“Then move quietly and unseen… like death,” Eris said.

My Ghost sighed.  I took one glance behind us just before we passed through the Keyhole, and saw the bridge disappear.  Well, I thought.  There’s no turning back now.  We entered the Keyhole and we were dropped into one of the two towers before the Bridge.

“Let’s hope this works,”  Mav said.  “Activate cloaking, Ghosts.”

After a small popping sound, we were gone from sight.

“I can’t see you!” I exclaimed quietly.  “Can you guys see me?!”

“Well that’s good then, it’s actually working this time,” Skinner said with relief.

Cayde spoke over comms with a warning.  “Keep your distance.  They can’t see you, but they can still smell you.  Eris can replace her ship—we can’t replace you guys.”

“I think he’s talking about you Metal Man,” Skinner snickered.

“Shut it Skinner, not now,” Maverick growled coldly.

“Cross the chasm. Enter their world.” Eris said.

I walked over to the edge of the platform and knelt down.  Using my sniper’s scope, I gazed down and scanned the area.  “Look down there,” I whispered to them.  Maverick came over to me and I handed him my scope.  “A tomb husk. I bet you that’s how we’re getting across this chasm.”

“I like it,” he said and handed the scope back to me.  “Alright, Skinner, you get the husk, Storm and I will wait by the Bridge.”

“Oh I see how it is…” Skinner began to complain, but Maverick cut him off.

“No, I’m not sending you over there because I can!” He said in an angry whisper.  “I’m sending you over there because you're better at stealth then us! Now please go get the husk.”

“Jeez!  Fine, I’ll get it, asshole,” Skinner grumbled before we headed out to the Bridge. 

Maverick and I took cover behind a lamp near the bridge, out of sight and scent from the Hive Knights that were patrolling the area. “What’s with the blue and red Knights?”

“Well the Red Knights are Swordbearers when we killed them the first time they dropped their Sword. And the Blue Knights are the Gatekeepers and they can only be killed by the Ascendant Sword the Swordbearers carry.”

“Oh and the Gatekeepers…?”

“They're the ones that kill Enigma and Paradox,” he hissed.  I could tell he was holding back his anger, and I gently placed a hand on his arm, squeezed genty, and let go.

Skinner ran up to us, holding the husk. “Here Mav, I got the husk.”

“Good now put it on that altar.”

He walked up to the altar and put it and as it faded the Bridge began to form. We crossed the bridge, snuck around the Gatekeepers that were pretty much guarding the doors, and ran over to the giant doors that led to Crota’s throne.

“Welp, time to open these loud ass doors.” Skinner groaned.

“Oh, come on, they couldn’t be that loud,” I murmured softly.

“And that’s where you're wrong,” Maverick said.  “Skinner, if you please.”

He touched the door and it very loudly began to open.

“You think they heard that?” I asked.

We began down the hall toward Crota’s Throne and the Deathsingers began their song.  “The Deathsingers!”  Eris exclaimed over the Vanguard channel.  “They are preparing Crota’s soul for the next realm.  Follow their cry.  It was just as this when I walked in the dark.  Their wretched songs in the wind as Eriana fell…”

We dropped down the hole and Maverick held up his hand to stop Skinner and I as Eris began speaking again. “Reach Crota’s tomb and take what remains of his soul.”

“There are a lot of tombs here—how do we find Crota’s?” Maverick asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

Maverick looked around the room, then visibly stiffened and froze in his place when he turned to us.  He was looking right through us.  Skinner and I turned around, and I felt my heart sink.  There were the bodies of two Hunters against the back wall, one was completely severed in half, and the other had a Hive Cleaver pierced through his chest.  Empty bullet casings and spent magazines littered the ground all around us.  Between the two of them were the remains of two Ghost shells, shattered into pieces, but their cores were recognizable and intact.  Maverick and Skinner both walked towards them, and I felt myself frozen in my place.  It was Paradox and Enigma, if I could guess it was anyone.  Maverick fell to his knees and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.  I walked closer slowly, but I gave him a bit of space at the same time.  He did the same for me when my team was found.  When we found them on Phobos.

“I failed you two.” Maverick started quietly.  There was tense pain in his voice. “I promised you guys that I would always be by your side.  No matter what.  And I failed at that. I haven’t been able to forgive myself for this and I still can’t.”  His shoulders were trembling.  Skinner and I knelt on either side of him.

“Come on Mav.” Skinner began. “We’ve got to get this mission done.”

“Look at the bright side, mon chérie, at least you have us.” I said, trying to make light of the situation.  He still had people to fight for.  At the time that I lost my team, I had lost everything.  It was hard for me because there was no one left.  But it must be even harder for him because he lost them when he couldn’t make the sacrifice that Gilly made for me.

“Storm you know how this feels.”  He snapped in an almost statically cold voice.  I winced at the harshness of his tone. “Your leader got you out.  He got you out because you have so much more to do.  Fireteam leaders are supposed to make sure their team makes it back alive.  Even if they don’t.  I should be here with the Sword through this STUPID ROBOTIC FRAME!”  He almost began yelling, he only lowered his voice when he realized he could have alerted the Hive.  “If you didn’t stop me, Skinner, I would be here with them, and only you would have made it out.”

He collapsed in the pool of Hive gunk in defeat, his head in his hands.  His body was trembling.  I felt so bad for him.  He couldn’t express emotions, he couldn’t grieve like I could.

Skinner placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. “No, I wouldn’t Maverick.  If you stayed with them and the events played out the same, I would’ve been with Vision and would’ve died in this Pit.  They told you to stay with us because they knew if you stayed with them, we would have all died instead of just half of us.”

“He’s right Maverick,” I reassured.  “But now we need you, you’re still our leader and we can do this.  Together.”

Shortly after the pep talk Skinner and I gave him, Maverick regained his composure, collected the cores of Paradox’s and Enigma’s Ghosts, and stood.  He walked toward the hall, scanned the area, and pointed at the floating coffin ahead. “There, that’s Crota’s tomb, let's get the essence.”

Skinner and I nodded and we started to follow Maverick. We avoided the Hive walking around so we didn’t get smelled out. We walked up to the tomb silently and Maverick whispered over the Vanguard channel, “We found it, Eris, what’s next?”

“Let the crystal drink deep from Crota’s essence.”

Maverick was holding the crystal, and looked at Skinner and I from over his shoulder.  He motioned for us to wait where we were, and walked up to the coffin.  My heart squeezed and I took a step towards him, but Skinner held my arm and shook his head.  He was right under the Deathsingers.

“It’s working!”  Maverick gasped quietly.  “How much do we need to pass as an Ascendent Hive?” 

“Only a taste, but steal all you can.”

Skinner and I were getting antsy just from standing there, but all of a sudden Maverick’s cloaking failed and he appeared underneath the coffin.  “Maverick!” I shouted, and Skinner immediately covered my mouth after.  He and I were still cloaked.  

“Somethings wrong!  I’m exposed!”  Maverick shouted as the Deathsingers began to scream.

“Lock for transmat!  Get out of there!”  Cayde yelled over the channel.  

“We must have Crota’s soul!”  Eris yelled.

“You’ve got enough!!  Lock for transmat, Ghosts!”

“I can’t!”  Maverick’s Ghost exclaimed.  “Everything is corrupted!!”

My heart was pounding and I could feel the blood draining from my face.  We were stuck here.  It was like walking into a nightmare as Hive began to run out of the doorways behind us.

“I can’t connect… Stay alive!  We’ve got to make it back!”  Maverick's Ghost said with a panic filled voice.

“Bring down the gun!”  Maverick shouted to his Ghost

“Now?!” 

“Yes NOW!”  A gun appeared in his hands in place of his Auto Rifle.  Then he turned to us.  “Skinner, cover us!”  Skinner nodded, took out his knife, and began taking down the Thrall that were running towards us one by one, under the cloak of darkness.  He looked like a shadow as the Thrall fell to the ground.

“Storm, Thunderstrike me with everything you got!”

“What?!  Why?”  I looked at Maverick in disbelief.  Now of all times, he wanted me to hit him with everything I had?  

“Just trust me!  Do it!”

I nodded and swallowed hard, drew all the energy I could from my entire body, and thrust my hand forward.  However, instead of a normal thunderstrike, all of the Arc energy in my body shot forward towards him in a concentrated beam.  I held my wrist steady with my opposite hand and I felt my feet lift off the ground a couple of inches.  I don’t know what came over me, but when the beam faded I collapsed to one knee, breathing heavy.  I was lucky that my cloaking didn’t fail.

Skinner rushed over to me and helped me stand up.  “Storm, are you alright?”  He asked me, his voice filled with worry and awe.  

I nodded my head and held up my hand.  “I’m fine,” I said quietly.  I looked over at Maverick, it was him that I was worried about.  The gun he was holding emitted green flames out its sides.  Maverick looked over at us.  

“Now can you two connect to your transmat?”

We checked with our Ghosts and saw that the link was able to pull us out of the area.  The two of us nodded in sync.

“Good now get out of here while you can!”

“NO!” I shouted without hesitation.  “We’re not leaving you here alone!  

“We’re a team, Maverick!”  Skinner added, “We stick together!”

“I’m not asking, I’m giving you an order.”  He snapped as Taken blights began to materialize.  He said something to his Ghost quietly, then turned his back to us.

All of a sudden I could feel myself starting to transmat out of there.  “NO!”  Skinner and I both shouted at once, just before we were teleported out of the Throne Room and back to the towers just before the bridge to get into Crota’s Throne, and the bridge had deconstructed.  We couldn’t get back to him.  Our cloaking failed shortly after we had landed.

I collapsed to the ground and felt dread gripping my entire body.  I pulled my knees to my chest and started sobbing.  Why would he send us away when we could help him?  Why would he try to do it alone? 

“No…. no… no…”  I held onto my helmet and pulled my limbs in close to my body.

“Storm!”  It was Skinner.   “Thank the Traveler you’re okay.”

I looked up at him.  My entire body was shaking.  “He sent us away,”  I cried.  “Why?  Why would he do that?  He’s going to die in there!”

The Hunter was quiet as he knelt down beside me.  “C’mon, Storm.  Maverick’s tough.  He’s going to make it out.”  He looked away from me, towards the door to Crota’s Throne.  “He… He has to.”

“But what if he doesn’t!”  I shouted through my tears.  “What if his Ghost can’t get a lock on for transmat and he can’t get out!”

He stared at me for a moment, then sighed.  “I don’t know, Storm,”  he admitted.  “We just have to have a little hope.”

“There’s nothing left,”  I whispered.  “I lost hope when I lost my fireteam.  You guys… you guys gave me hope again.  Maverick… oh, mon chérie, mon amour, je ne peux pas te perdre, pa comme ça… pas comme ça… reviens-moi s'il te plaît….”*

Skinner and I sat quietly.  I couldn’t stop crying, not even when my cries turned into strangled, stifled sobs and hiccups.  Skinner was trying to keep me calm and kept rubbing circles on my back.  I don’t know how long we sat there in silence.  Both of our Ghosts were insisting that we should go back to our ships, but we couldn’t find it in us to leave.  This entire time, we had no connection to the Vanguard Channel, like the signal was stuck in that room with Maverick.  We couldn’t even tell them that we had gotten out alive, or that Maverick was still stuck in there.  

All of a sudden, we heard the whurr of a transmat, and both of our heads shot up.  Maverick was on the ground, starting to sit up.  His armor was beaten and splattered with Hive blood.  

“You…  You pulled me out!”  He said in shock.  He slowly stood to his feet

“One of Toland’s tricks…” Eris responded with panicked relief as Skinner and I joined back into the Vanguard Channel.  “There is nothing I fear more than the Dark, but I will not lose another Guardian.  You’ve imprisoned the last whisper of Crota’s soul.  It is left to you now. Find Oryx on the Dreadnaught.  Destroy him.”

“You asshole!” Skinner yelled and jumped up from my side.  His hands were clenched into fists.  But instead of throwing a knife into his face, like he normally would, he embraced the Titan tightly.

“I thought I lost you.  We thought we lost you.”  He said before taking him just out of my earshot.  I looked away from them.  Even though he was out alive and in one piece, I was still crying.  My heart still hurt.  I was upset that he sent us away, angry that he made us leave him; I couldn't bear to look at him, and yet, I was flooded with relief that he was alive.

Maverick walked over and sat next to me.  “Storm, I’m…”  He started, but before he could continue, I hugged him tightly.  He almost didn’t know what to do for a moment, but he wrapped his arms around me regardless.

“I thought I lost you, mon chérie,” I whimpered.  “Why?  Why did you send us away before we could help?”  I felt betrayed all over again.  How could I put my trust in someone who wasn’t able to trust me?

“I… I wasn’t going to get three people killed.  So I wasn’t going to risk it, but I now realize that was foolish,” he admitted.

“Yeah, no shit it was foolish,” Skinner scoffed.

“And why did you have me Thunderstrike you?”  I asked as we pulled out of our hug.  “Or… whatever I managed to do.  I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Well not exactly,” he said as he pulled out the weapon. “It needed a supercharge and only you, a Stormcaller, could charge it.  I knew I wouldn’t survive without it.”

Dawn appeared at my shoulder, scanned the gun, and immediately started to yell at him.  Even I looked at her in shock. “Do you know what you’ve created, Maverick!?”

“What are you talking about?”  Maverick asked with a shake of his head.

“Don’t play stupid with me! You knew what her Light would do to the gun!”

“Mon chérie,” I said and got Maverick’s attention away from my Ghost.  “What is that weapon?”

Before he could answer, my Ghost cut him off.  “It’s a Weapon of Sorrow!  This one feeds on the owner’s anger and aggression!”

“And that’s how I survived!” He snapped at my Ghost.  “It’s the only reason I’m alive!”

“But can you control the weapon?”  Dawn was in his face, accusing him of some crime I didn’t know existed.  “Or will it control you?!”  I reached out and gently grabbed her shell, pulling her back away from him.

“Dawn, calm down,”  I said softly.  I paused a moment and looked at Maverick.  “Can you?  Can you control it?”

“I’ll control it.  I’ve told my own Ghost the same thing.  And don’t bother telling the Vanguard, they know.  Now can we all please go home?  I really don’t want to be here anymore.” 

“Yeah I’m with you Mav.” Skinner said.

“Me too.” I agreed.  “I… I want to go home.”

---translations---

* “My sweetheart, my love, I can’t lose you... no like this... not like this... come back to me, please...”

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXVII

Part 1 of the Destined Series Chapter 27 : The Promethean Code masterlist

word count : 2.5k tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop

I stirred a bit from my sleep the next morning when I felt my body being adjusted.  I sighed quietly and rolled over.  I was startled awake when the door then flew open, and hit the wall with a loud thud. Before the intruder could announce themselves, I threw a Thunderstrike their way and hit them square in the chest, killing him instantly.  I jumped up, reached for my sword on the table, only it wasn’t there.  It started to process in my brain that this wasn’t my apartment, it took me another moment to recognize the Ghost, and Maverick was holding in his laughter as he walked over and revived him.  Skinner stood in the living room, staring me down like he was ready to stab me for it.

“Oh Fuck!”  I exclaimed, my face flushing bright. “I’m so sorry Skinner! It’s a natural reflex!”  I then turned to Maverick, who had a smug look on his face. “Why didn’t you wake me up and tell me he was coming?!”

“Because I wanted to see what would happen. And I was not disappointed.” he said trying to hide his laughter.

Skinner then looked at Maverick with revenge filled eyes and said, “Oh you cheeky motherfucker, I’ll get you back.”

“I’m sure you will, now that we’re all here we need to talk about our next mission.”

“Wait, what mission?”  I asked.

“Well we have to go steal something.”

“Steal something?  From who?”

“...From Rasputian…”

I must have been the only one in the room that was clueless, because I looked between both of them and they were staring at me expectantly. “Umm who’s that?” I pressed.

“A Warmind.”

“A Warmind?” I was dumbfounded.  Warminds are Golden Age Artificial Intelligence that connected the entire solar system through warsats, satellites, and weapons.  “I thought they were lost during the Collapse?”

“Well, they were, until we activated the last array in Old Russia and reactivated him,” Maverick answered.

“He should be okay, right?”  The thought of venturing into a Warmind made a pit form in my stomach.  This may be familiar for Maverick and Skinner, but this was uncharted territory for me.

“After we ran Omnigul out of there, Zavala sent in a few teams to seal the vault. Only one team came back.”  Skinner said, and promptly took a bow.

“Oh, then why are we going to a killer A.I. then?”  I crossed my arms and glared at both of them.  I didn’t like this idea one bit, but if there was no other way, then maybe we didn’t have a choice. 

“Because we are the only ones to come out alive in recent times.”

“Fair enough. So what’s the plan Mav?”  I walked over to the table, where the two of them were standing over the mission summary that they got from Cayde.

“Well we land in the Forgotten Shore, make our way to his bunker, go in, find the codes, take the codes and get out. Should be simple enough, the Vault's been sealed since Omnigul, so nothing could have gotten in.”

“So let me get this straight.”  I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples.  Why did mission summaries and plans always have to be discussed right after I woke up?  “We're headed into the deadliest Golden Age Warmind and stealing from it?”

“That’s the gist of it yeah.”

I looked at the two of them, standing there as if this mission was no big deal, and sighed in defeat.  “What have I gotten myself into with you guys?” 

“A lot of fun, duh.” Skinner cackled.

“Well let’s get going then.”  I split off from them, giving Maverick’s hand a small squeeze before I left to get changed into my armor.  Skinner must have noticed, because I could hear him giggling like a giddy schoolgirl and the muffled sound of their voices.  I shook my head and smiled.  As much as these guys had a tendency to lead me down suicide missions, I don’t think I could live a day without them anymore.

— — — — —

We all boarded our ships later on in the morning and flew out of the Hanger, though we stayed in the atmosphere and fell into formation.  Our Ghosts synchronized our ships and we all set a course for the Forgotten Shore.  Before we arrived Eris came over sounding both angry and concerned "Stealing from Rasputian… You are entering a world you do not understand."

"Don't worry about her Fireteam." Cayde interjected, "She's still mad about what you did to her ship. We need stealth tech to slip by the Taken and Warmind's bunker has the codes we need."

"Do you really think it should be this easy?" I asked Maverick.

"Honestly no," Mav sighed, "I can almost say for certain that we are going to see some Taken in there."

"But the Vault's been sealed for months!" Skinner protested.  "There's no way Taken could have breached it."

"And that's where you're wrong, I've seen enough Taken coming out of thin air and the walls to know better.  But for now let's hope we don't have to fight Taken."

We landed in the Forgotten Shore and Maverick asked, "Cayde how do you know Rasputian will still have the codes?"

"I already stole it once, used my last copy making that stealth drive you blew up.  Eh, it was getting old anyways." He said.

We hopped on our sparrows and rode over the shore.  I followed Maverick and Skinner to an old building, and we quickly dispatched the Fallen that were outside of it. We made our way to the bunker in the basement of the building.  As we began to descend the stairs, it must have finally clicked with Maverick that we couldn’t get into the Vault if it was sealed.

"Cayde, how are we supposed to get inside?"  He asked.  

"You've got the same bypass frequency that got me inside."

"He will protect his domain." Eris warned.

Maverick didn’t even have to input the codes, the doors opened on their own.  As the door opened, we saw more Taken rifts and my heart sank.  It was never going to be that easy. I reloaded my weapon and followed Maverick inside, Skinner bringing up the rear.

"More interdimensional goo, the Taken are here," Maverick reported.

"What? Not possible," Cayde said "We sealed the vault after the Omnigul breach."

“Cayde look at this.”  He had his Ghost turn on a video feed to the Vanguard channel.

“Oh that does look bad. Okay, so if you see them ah, just shoot’em."

We make our way further into the vault and head toward the end of the hall before Taken started popping out of thin air as they normally do.

“How did they get in there?” Cayde asked.

“The Taken are not bound by terrestrial constraints.” Eris said.

“Yeah, I bet they’ll be constrained by terrestrial bullets.” Cayde added.

With that, we charged at the Taken.  We cut down the Thrall and thinned their ranks.  I hung back a bit and started sniping the Vandals and Captains towards that back of the room.  The Vandals, however, became Maverick’s main aim of aggression.  Most likely because they cast their own ward. Once everything was gone, I caught up to Skinner and Maverick and they led me further into the Vault.  This place was familiar to them, they knew the halls like the back of their hands.

We began to push toward the end of the hall where more Taken began popping out. More Thrall, a Vandal, and a Captain.  Captains have a tendency to throw literal Darkness blast at us, not to mention they teleport way too damn much, more than the Thrall do.  When everything else was dead, Skinner and I stood next to each other, watching Maverick ruthlessly blast off the captain’s leg with his shotgun, let it collapse, before lining up his gun and blasting off it’s head.

“Really?” I asked.  “Was that necessary?”

“What? He was pissing me off!” he snapped back.

“Nice one Mav!” Skinner said as he laughed and clapped at the display of aggression.

“Listen, Storm, if it was a normal Captain I would have shown it mercy. But these aren’t Fallen Captain’s anymore.  Killing them is mercy at this point”

“Okay I’ll keep your word on that one,” I said in defeat.  As much I hated the Taken and as much as my morals wanted to spare every creature, regardless of its nature, I knew he was right.  “Now let’s keep moving.”

We continued through the bunker walking through what looked like a cooling chamber, most likely for the computer cores. 

Maverick’s Ghost commented, “I can’t believe the Taken can track us so easily.  Oryx really does hate us.”

“Well you did kill his son.” Dawn pointed out.

“Yeah, please don’t remind me.  Skinner and I have a small army after us to do the reminding for you.”

“Which is exactly why we’re here. We need those cloaking codes.”  Cayde piped in.

We left the cooling room and took another left as a door opened for us.  Rasputin was leading us right to his data center.

“Do you think Rasputian is guiding us to the codes?” I asked.

“It’s entirely possible, he probably recognizes us and the threat at hand.” Maverick replied.

We went through the door and more Taken came out to greet us.  This seemed to be never ending.  The Taken Centurions were interesting to deal with; they summon this seeking missile to try and kill us thankfully it's shootable, it’s very similar to my axion dart grenades.

We fight through them with little problems. After they’re all dead the next door unlocks and opens. We follow the door down to what looks like a power tunnel and more Taken Thrall popped in. We cut them down easily and proceeded to the only door in that room. The next area was a small intersection where we stopped to catch our breaths.

“Ugh I’m covered in Taken goo again!” I exclaimed in annoyance.  I shook off my hands and watched it cake the wall.  I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning my armor when we got back.

“Oh, you’re covered in goo.” Mav muttered bitterly, and Skinner and I turned to face him. My eyes widened at the sight.  Taken goo covered most of his armor.

Skinner almost died of laughter. “Oh no! Look out for the Taken Titan!”

I couldn’t help it.  I laughed along with Skinner. “Wow, I thought I was covered but never mind.”

Maverick sighed.  “Very funny, you guys.”  He shook off his hands and wiped the goo off the face of his helmet.  We used this time to take a breather; we reloaded our weapons and replenished our ammunition. We went to the open door. As with the other rooms, more Taken came to try and stop us.  At this point, it was tiring

“Alright I’m done with these Taken. Skinner if you would please?” Mav asked, making a grandiose sweeping motion in front of him.

“My pleasure, Metal Man.” He said.

Shortly after, he brought out his knife and Arc Light swirled about his body.  He then began to cut down all the Taken in the room and more that they came after the first wave. After they were all dead Skinner took a bow.

“Hope you two enjoyed the show!  I know I enjoyed making it. It’s a shame though, I wanted to cut open one of those Vandals.”

I rolled my eyes at him and patted him on the shoulder as Maverick and I walked by.  “Excellent work, Skinner.”

“Alright now, let’s go.  We must be close.” 

We went through the door, and another… and another… and another… and another, until it finally opened up to the control center.  "Really? How many damn doors does he need?" I commented, my annoyance clear in my voice.  And just like that, Taken spawned into the room.

“Okay, enough's enough,” Maverick growled as Solar Light illuminated his entire body.  With that, he pulled solar hammers out of thin air and threw them at the Psions and Centurions in the room.  He cleared them out in no time.

“Cayde we’re clear which console are we looking for?” He asked as the Solar energy faded from his body. Skinner and I walked closer to him.

“Umm, the one in the back I think.” He said.

“Found it.”

“Alright, see what you can pull out of Rasputian. Hmm, there’s a joke there somewhere.”

Mav deployed his Ghost and it scanned the computer.

“These cryptosystems follow no logic I understand. I’m not sure it can be modified to work on a Guardian.” 

“Where do you think Bladedancers got their cloaking ability?” He said mockingly, “Grab the codes, I’ll upload my modifications.”

“If the Vanguard is satisfied, we can finally end this. Return to the Moon. Steal Crota’s soul.”

The three of us followed the path back out of the bunker; there were no Taken left to slow us down as we headed into the early afternoon sunlight and transmatted back into our ships.

“That was a successful mission if I do say so myself,” Maverick said over the private channel.

“Yes it was,” Skinner agreed.  “And I’m, uh, I’m gonna head to the bar.  I’ll catch you guys tomorrow.” He dropped out of the channel as silence fell between the Maverick and I.

When we landed in the Hanger, I turned to Maverick.  “I’m going to head home to wash off all this goo.  You’re welcome to join me for a pot of coffee.”

“I’m actually going to head home, too.  Have a good night though, Angel.”

— — — — — 

A few hours later I was sitting in my living area, glimmer piled on the table, and I was finishing up getting the Taken goo off of my armor. It was around midnight now and it was pouring rain outside.  I sat back on the couch when I finished and yawned.  I looked over at my Ghost.  “Ghost, open a channel with Maverick.”

I waited a couple of minutes before he answered.  “Yeah?” He asked aloud, like he didn’t really pay attention to who had called him, or that he was preoccupied with something.

“Allô, mon chérie,”  I said softly.

“Oh, Storm, hey… everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.”  I paused for a moment, and fiddled with the ends of my sleeves.  “Mav… I know where we’re going tomorrow.  Are you sure you guys are going to be okay.”

There was silence on his end.

“Mav?”

“I’ll be fine, Skinner will be fine.  Don’t worry about it.”  There was a chill in his voice that made me doubt him.  “You should get some sleep.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek.  “Maverick…”

“Angel, please…”  He was pleading with me now.  “Get some rest.”

“Okay.  Je t’aime, mon chérie.  Bonne nuit et fait de beaux rêves…”*

“Good night, Angel.”

--- translations ---

* I love you, my dear.  Good night and sweet dreams...”

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXVI

Part 1 of the Destined Series Chapter 26 : Fireteam Insurgent's History masterlist

word count : 3.5K tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop

The three of us were in Maverick’s apartment.  There was a pot of coffee brewing and Skinner was on the phone ordering pizza from this place downtown.  Apparently, they had the best pizza in the Last City. I was laying down on the couch. My head was pounding.

“What did we do last night?”  I asked, opening one eye to peer at Maverick, who was sitting at the table.

“We went drinking, remember?”  He said with a chuckle.

“Barely…” I closed my eyes against the sunlight that shone in the room.  “Can you close the blinds? It’s really bright in here.”

Skinner laughed and sat down in the armchair across the room.  “Looks like someone’s hungover. To be fair, though, you had a lot to drink last night.”

“What…? How much?”

“Like… seven Lights Out, plus some normal liquor.”

I groaned and rolled on my stomach, burying my face in the pillows.  I could hear them both laughing. “Shut up, guys,” I complained. The memories of last night were blurry and thinking back on them hurt my head.  I remember dancing, drinking, loud noises, and Maverick holding me tightly at some point.

“Alright, you two,”  Skinner announced a few minutes later.  “I’m going to pick up the pizza. Play nice.  And Mav, no repeats of last night, got it?”

“Fuck off, asshole,” Mav grumbled.

When I heard the door shut, I sat up and held my head.  Maverick came over to me with a cup of black coffee, my usual morning pick-me-up.  He sat down on the couch by my knees. I nodded in thanks and took the cup from him.  “What did happen last night?”  I asked him quietly.

“I’ll explain when you’re sober,” the Exo whispered.

While I sipped on the coffee, Mav gently rubbed my back.  I closed my eyes and leaned my head on his shoulder. His touch was soothing and feather-light, almost like he was scared to touch me.

“Why are you always so gentle like this?”  I pressed gently.

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever you touch me, you are always so careful and gentle.  Like you’re afraid you’re going to hurt me. Why is that?”

There was a long silence that fell between us while he thought.  He sighed softly. “I… I don’t know. I guess I’m just scared of my own strength, or what I could accidentally do to you.”

I gazed at him lovingly.  “Mon chérie, you are too kind.  Whatever you do, you could never hurt me.”

He laughed aloud and looked at me, his red eyes ablaze with mischief and excitement.  “Oh, little angel, you have no idea what I am capable of.”

My cheeks warmed and I looked down.  I almost didn’t want to know what happened last night.  I closed my eyes and leaned back on the couch. The light was still straining my eyes, it made me feel like my head was splitting in two.  “Seriously, Mav, can we close the curtains, blinds, or something? My head is splitting.”

The Exo laughed softly and stood, then closed the curtains, flooding the room in dimmer lighting.  I took a sip of my coffee when he came back over to me. “Greasy food will help you, Angel. Trust me.”  He patted my shoulder and then walked back over to the table and sat down.

Ten minutes later, Skinner returned and slammed the door behind him.  “I have fooooood!” He shouted, making my ears ring.  

“Skinner, I swear on the Traveler, shut the fuck up,” I warned, clutching my head.  Both he and Maverick started laughing.

“C’mon, Storm,” Skinner said.  I felt his hands hook underneath my arms and dragged me to my feet.  I groaned in protest, although I followed him to the table, where he and Maverick helped me sit.  “Eating will help you feel better, sooner.” I lowered my head onto the table.

When Mav opened the box, my head shot up.  My enhanced senses went into overdrive and I propped my head on my hand.  It smelled amazing, and even more so when Skinner put a slice on a plate and placed it directly under my nose.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I was already half-way through my second piece. My headache was starting to lessen.  I moaned in delight and took another bite. “Oh my lord,” I mumbled. “Mmm… so good…”

Skinner nodded in agreement.  “Told you so.” Even Mav was having a slice.  After a few slices in, my head was clearer and I wasn’t as sensitive to the light.

“Mmh… so…”  I said after a couple more bites.  “Where do we start?”

“Right,”  Mav pulled a file from the stack next to him and opened it.  “Sepkis Prime. It’s the mission that Skinner, Vision, and I met.  We were all assigned individually, but we worked really well together and became a team.”

“Man,” Skinner said and leaned back in his chair.  “You know, we didn’t hit it off at all in the beginning.  I didn’t even want to be a part of the team, but Zavala practically forced me.”

“Really?”  I said in shock.  “How come?”

He shrugged.  “I didn’t work well with people back then, only ever co-op strikes when Zavala really needed me to..”

“It’s true,” Mav added.  “Vision and I hit it off right away, I guess it was the Titan thing.  It was rough trying to get this Hunter to work with us. After Vision and I took him to the bar after a mission, however, and we all really got to know each other personally, we became one of the best teams the Vanguard had at the time.”

I pondered on this for a moment.  “I see… so that’s how your team started.”  I sat back in my chair and took a sip of coffee.  “When I went digging, there were seven mission reports.  I assume you met the rest of the team along the way.”

“Almost all of them,”  Mav corrected. “We met Shadow in the bar.  The guy was lost and Vision insisted that we take him in.”

“Okay, and the others…” I shuffled through the papers.  “Ah, Jamison-6 and Aleckzander. How’d they meet you guys?”

“When I went to kill Draksis.”  Mav shuffled through the files and pulled another file from the stack and placed it in front of me.  I opened it up and skimmed through the document while Maverick continued. “Skinner was on a mission for Cayde and Vision was having an off day, though he didn’t say why and he didn’t want to leave the Tower.  The Vanguard paired me with the two Hunters. Hell, we worked like a well oiled machine in the field.”

“They were great guys,”  Skinner added. “A little rebellious and crazy, but the two of them were inseparable.  And they were always there when called upon.”

“Were they with you when you went to the Vault?”  I asked.

“Yup.  It was Skinner, Shadow, Vision, Paradox, Enigma and I.  Vault of Glass was a tricky raid. Especially in the Labyrinth.”

“The ‘Labyrinth’?”

“The Gorgon Labyrinth.  They’re these Harpies that patrol the Vault, though they’re mostly in the Labyrinth after you encounter the Templar, which was a giant Hydra that protected the entrance to the Labyrinth.  The Gorgons don’t kill you if they catch you. They erase you from existence, so we either had to sneak by quietly or kill all of them. We tried to get through quietly, but Shadow was spotted, so we had to take the violent way out.”

“Typical Titan,” Skinner scoffed.

I laughed softly and shook my head.  Mav was glaring at him. “You know I could wipe the floor with you right now, isn’t that right, asshat?”

Skinner placed a hand on the table and leaned close.  “Oh, I would love to see you try me in Crucible.”

“Okay, boys,”  I interjected. “Be nice.  What happened next? After the Vault.”

“After the Vault?  We all went our separate ways for a while.  We met up once a week or so to hang out and catch up, but Eris reached out to us… maybe two months later, about some Hive activity on the Moon.  She had reached out to us once before, after we destroyed the Heart of the Black Garden. We destroyed the Fist of Crota, but then Omnigul, the Will of Crota, tried to take over Rasputin.  Our mission led us to her, and Eris insisted that we had to put a stop to her work. And stopping her led us to Crota.”

We grew silent.  I was absently swirling my mug in my hand, Mav was staring at the last file in the stack which was now in the center of the table, and Skinner was holding his knife in his hands, the blade glinting in the room’s dim light.  I had read Maverick’s mission debriefing and I knew what he said had happened, but we all withhold information from the Vanguard.

“So…” I started quietly after a few minutes of uneasy silence.  “What actually happened.”

“The raid… it was almost too easy.  Everything went according to plan.” Skinner looked down at the knife in his hands.  “From the moment we entered the Abyss to the moment we killed Crota with his own sword.”

“We won,”  Maverick added quietly and I shifted my gaze to him.  “But… any and all Hive left in that Throne World went into an angry rampage before we could get out.  We ran since our Ghosts couldn’t establish a transmat link in the Throne World. Shadow was first.”

Skinner stabbed his knife into the table, directly through the mission report.  “He got held down by Thrall and before we could get back to him, a Wizard ripped the light out of his body.  His screams… still haunt me when I go to sleep.”

“We kept running,”  Mav continued, “but there was a ledge above that we needed to use to get out of the area, too high to jump to.  Enigma and Paradox helped the three of us jump up, then Enigma helped Paradox up to us. Before we could reach down and pull him up, a Gatekeeper knight pulled him down mid-jump, then slashed him in half.”

Skinner looked over at me.  “Paradox jumped back down after him to protect his Ghost.  He killed the Hive that tried to swarm him. He kept yelling at us to run, and we had no choice but to leave.  He was killed by a Swordbearer. Then both of the Ghosts were shattered.”

I nodded.  The two of them exchanged looks.  Maybe they didn’t want to continue reliving the mission that destroyed their team.  “You guys don’t have to—” I started, but Maverick cut me off.

“No, you should know.  You have every right.”

“Your team was killed because of our mission,”  Skinner added firmly. “You need to understand why; and why Oryx wants to finish the job that his son started.  He wants to destroy all Lightbearers because we killed his son.”

“Okay…” I placed my mug down and refocused.  “So what next. How did you get out?”

“We ran back across the bridge and back into the Abyss,”  Mav continued. “There were hundreds of Thrall chasing us.  Vision was overrun, but I could not let another one of my friends get killed.  Skinner and I killed enough of them to get them to flee, but they got a hold of his Ghost.  We were able to get Vision to his feet and out of the Abyss, and we escaped back to the surface of the Moon.  Vision’s eyes were almost completely clawed out, and since he had no Ghost to heal him, we had to get him back to the Tower to be fixed up.”

“Vision lost all sight in his left eye and about fifty-percent of his right.  If we waited any longer to get him out of there, he would have been totally blind.”  Skinner stood and walked over to the window.

“Wait… I thought it was just you two left.”  I looked between the Hunter and Titan. “Vision’s alive?”

“Well… yeah,”  Mav sighed. “He lives here in the City.  But he hardly speaks to us anymore.”

“Well, maybe not to you,”  Skinner said. “I call him every week.  He hardly leaves his house, but I can convince him to go drinking once a month… or two.”

“Skinner…” Mav almost looked sad.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He didn’t want me to.  He knows you still have a team to lead, so he didn’t want to bother you.  He’s changed a lot. He’s always bitter about something, at least until you get him blackout drunk.  Then he just keeps telling you how much he appreciates you and everything you’ve done to help him.”

Mav’s jaw clenched.  “He doesn’t answer my calls and that’s why?”

“Yeah.”

We fell silent again.  I stood and poured myself another cup of coffee.  “You know, I’d like to meet him,” I said.

“No way,” Skinner said quickly.  “Trust me, Storm, you really don’t.  The guy has no moral filter.”

“So?”

“No, Skinner’s right,”  Mav said. “If he doesn’t even want to talk to me, he definitely doesn’t want to talk to you.  He might see you as his replacement, and he probably already has opinions about you.”

I sighed and nodded.  “I understand.”

We all rejoined at the table, though Skinner just placed his hands on the back of his chair.  “But that’s beside the point. There’s three of us who made it out alive; three of us that didn’t.”

“Yeah, and this afternoon turned out to be more depressing than we anticipated,” Maverick concluded.

“Yeah, that’s just about everything, so I’m going to see Shaxx and jump into the Crucible… blow off some steam.”  And with that, Skinner said farewell, took his knife out of the table, and left Mav’s apartment, leaving the two of us alone.  Mav started to put the papers back in their files.

“Our team has gone through a lot, Storm,” he said quietly.  “You’re not the only one with a vendetta.”

“I know,” I sighed and closed my eyes.  “It’s just hard to remember that I’m not the only one who’s lost their family.”

Maverick stood and walked behind my chair.  His hands placed gently on my shoulders. “I know,” he said.  “But at least now you don’t have to go at it alone. None of us do.”

I leaned my head back against his abdomen.  I opened my eyes and gazed up at him. “Mav… do you mind if I bathe and take a nap for a while to get rid of the rest of my hangover?”

“Yeah, of course,”  he nodded. “I can take you home, or you can just shower here.  I never need to use it, but Skinner’s used it a couple of times when he used to crash here every now and then.”

“I’ll just shower here, if that’s OK.  It’s still way too bright out for me to comfortably walk home.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, almost sounding shocked.  “Um, it’s down the hall, second door on the left.  I’ll put some clothes out for you.”

I smiled and stood.  “Merci, mon chérie.”  I kissed his jaw, then left for the bathroom.  When I was going down the hall, my Ghost appeared at my side, and spoke once I closed the bathroom door behind myself.

“You’re being pretty stupid right now, Guardian,”  Dawn said as I started to undress.

“Why would you say that?”

“Do… do you really not remember what happened between the two of you last night?”

I turned the shower on and turned the temperature gauge to hot.  Heat didn’t really bother me, so I could enjoy scalding hot showers with no painful reactions on my skin.  “No, I don’t… Everything about last night is a blur. I get pieces every now and then, but nothing concrete.”

“Well… you see…”

I cut her off.  “No, peu de lumière.  Maverick said he would tell me, and I am going to hear it from him.  Am I clear?”

“You’re the boss,” she grumbled as I stepped into the shower, and then she disappeared.

I took my time in the shower.  While the heat didn’t burn my skin, it made my senses tingle wonderfully.  I used the shampoo and body wash he had here and scrubbed myself until I couldn’t smell the alcohol anymore.  I heard the door open and close again while I washed, and when I stepped out a couple minutes later, I saw a change of clothes and a fresh towel on the bathroom counter.  I smiled to myself, quickly dried off and dressed, then walked out into the hall. When I got into the living room, I noticed there were pillows and blankets set up on the couch, but Maverick was nowhere to be seen.  I tightened the drawstring on the sweats he left so they stopped slipping. I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged the heather gray t-shirt close. Assuming that Maverick was off doing something, maybe building one of his car models, I laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over my body.  Before I completely dozed off to sleep, I felt the blanket get pulled up to my chin and Maverick leaned down and kissed my head. I was smiling when I dozed off to sleep.

————— 

I woke up several hours later.  I yawned and stretched, then sat up and ran my fingers through my hair.  Maverick was dozed off in the armchair. I smiled softly and stood, blanket around my shoulders, and I knelt down in front of the chair.  My hand gently placed on his leg and I leaned my head in his lap. After a couple minutes of silence, I felt him shift and his hand gently placed on my head, his finger ran through my hair.  I smiled and looked up at him.

“Beau matin, mon chérie,” I murmured softly.  “Did you sleep?”

“Yeah,” he said as he stretched.  “Did you?”

“Oui,” I smiled and yawned softly.  “My hangover is gone and I’m feeling better already.”

“Good.”

We stayed in silence for a little longer, then I looked up at him.  “Will you tell me now?”

“Tell you what?”

“What happened last night?  Before my Ghost does.”

He gazed off, like he was pondering if he should tell me or not. “Listen, Angel, you were drunk, so you didn’t know what you were doing.  I just don’t want this to change anything between us if I tell you.”

“Mon chérie, why are you hesitating?”

He shifted a bit.  “Genny, you and I…”  He held his head in his hands.  “Fuck, this is really difficult to say.”

I could feel my face warming.  “Mav…”

His hand gently ran over my hair and then rest on my shoulder.  “Angel, I love you. Very much. You know that, right?”

“And you know I love you,”  I replied.

“And I would never hurt you, you know.”

“I know.”

He sighed and nodded.  “Okay… last night, when we all came back here, Skinner passed out in my room, so you and I stayed out here.  We… kind of got a little hot and heavy if you know what I mean. We kissed. A lot. And, uh…” He shifted some more and I felt my heart start  to race. I was starting to catch on.

“Mav… we didn’t… did we?”

“Oh, hell, no.  I wouldn’t do that to you while you were drunk.  But you… did let me touch your skin, even though I kept insisting that we should wait until you were sober, that way I knew if you actually wanted that, we could try, but only if you wanted to!”  He averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. “This is sounding way worse than I hoped it would.”

“No!”  I exclaimed.  I took hold of both of his hands.  “Maverick, listen to me. I love you very much.  And yes, I think I’ve felt the same exact feelings you have, but I never said anything because… I’m terrified.  So, yes, in my drunken mess, I was probably being more honest with you about how I feel.” My gaze softened and I looked up at him.  “You are so, so kind to recognize that I wasn’t myself. Thank you, thank you for me honoring me and my…” I couldn’t think of the right word to say.

His thumb gently ran over my bottom lip.  “Innocence?” He was smiling as if he felt relieved.  “I would never break your trust like that, Angel, you have my word.”

I nodded, then stood, and then gently sat on his leg.  He was looking at me with widened optics. One of his hands gently placed on my side.  I leaned down and kissed him softly. He gladly reciprocated, and we stayed like that in silence.  When we parted, I smiled softly and leaned my head on his shoulder. I curled up against him, and Mav held me close.  I fell back asleep, curled up in his arms.

[basically-nacl]

What happens when Fireteam Dauntless gets bored waiting

Skinner: Want to shoot Mountaintop at each other and see who dies first?

Maverick: You're on.

Storm: You two are idoits.

Maverick, as he's firing his Mountaintop shot for a 3rd time: Yes we a....

*the shot returns killing him*

Skinner: HAHAHA I WIN!

[fireteam-dauntless]

Storm, sighing but smiling: Idiots....

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXV

Chapter 25 : Reevaluation  Part 1 of the Destined series  masterlist

word count : 2.0K tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop​

I woke in my apartment.  I felt better; more relaxed, more awake.  I was expected to appear before the Vanguard this morning at eight o’clock.  I glanced at my clock, it was right before 6.  Sunrise would be coming soon, so I rolled out of bed and got into the shower.  The hot water felt glorious on my skin and the tension in my body was slowly releasing.  I wasn’t looking forward to seeing the Vanguard today.  I’m sure Zavala was going to be furious, and he would probably be pushing for me to be suspended, or even put on lockdown, until I could correct my behavior.  Maybe even Ikora would agree with him, I’ve been way out of line.  I was so personally invested in this mission that my judgement was clouded.  The only one who might oppose would be Cayde, since I’ve been on the team with Skinner and Maverick.  The only reason Ikora might oppose is because I’m one of the few Stormcallers left.

I stepped out of the shower and dried off my body, then wrapped myself in a bathrobe.  I dried my hair with a towel as I walked downstairs.  I rounded the corner into the kitchen, and turned on a pot of coffee.

“Oh, you’re awake.”  I whipped around at the sound of the voice and thrust my hands forward, a Thunderstrike erupted out of my palms and flashed across the room.  A small yelp of pain followed, as well as a dense thud.  “Agh!  What was that for?!”

My eyes widened when I realized it was Maverick.  He was clutching onto his shoulder as his Ghost appeared.  I looked at Dawn as she appeared beside me.  “Why didn’t you tell me he was here!”  I hissed at her, then went over to Maverick and helped him stand up.  “Mav, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,”  he said as his Ghost started healing him.  “I’m just glad you’re awake.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.  Did you stay here the whole time?  How long have I been out?”

“It’s been about two days since I brought you home.  I stayed in case Zavala tried to send any of his Bounty Hunters in here.  He did once, but they didn’t even get a foot in the door.  I didn’t let them.”

“I—thank you, mon cherie, for staying here.  Do you need anything?”  I asked as I stood and looked around the living room.  The files were piled neatly on the table, my mug that I shattered had been cleaned up and thrown away.  Anything that I had knocked over in my fit of rage was picked up or tossed if it was broken.  I walked over to the burned painting and gently ran my fingers over the scorched edges.  I couldn’t believe I had destroyed it, and I felt tears burning in my eyes.  “I wish I could change things…” I whispered quietly.

“I know,” he said.  “But you were justified.  I guess I can understand that… that you hated me in the moment.”

“But still… this feels so wrong.  I’ve never destroyed any of my pieces like this.”  I walked away from it and into the kitchen, Maverick right behind me.  I pulled down a new mug and poured myself a cup of coffee.  After taking a couple sips, I sighed.  “Maverick… there’s so much I didn’t know about you.  Why, why did you feel like you had to hide from me?”

There was a long pause when I turned to him.  He was looking at the ground, like he was ashamed.  “Angel… You have to understand, there’s a lot about me that I didn’t want you to know.  When people know who I am, when they know me only for what I’ve done and accomplished, they change.  I… I didn’t want you to change.  To be honest, I fell in love with the blissfully unaware Warlock that I met at the entrance to the Vault.  I just wanted to feel like a normal Guardian again.”  

I felt my cheeks flush and I looked down at the floor.  I felt guilty for looking in the file now.  “I should have just asked you…” I murmured softly.  

He laughed softly.  “In your defense, you did.”  When I didn’t respond, Maverick smoothed a hand over my hair and gently lifted my chin.  “Genesis, this isn’t your fault.  I should have told you sooner, I know, but I didn’t want you to leave our team if you knew.”

“I understand, Mav,” I said quietly.  “But… I need to get ready.  The Vanguard is expecting me within the hour.”  I watched the expression on his face shift, almost like he was worried or scared.  “Hey….” I smiled gently and placed my hand on his arm.  “I’m not going to let them love me away.  Everything’s going to be fine.”

I placed my mug down and went upstairs to get suited up.  I slipped on my Nerigal Savant III set that I had gotten from Ikora, and went back downstairs.  “Maverick, go get Skinner and just wait for me.  I’ll be back soon.”  As we walked out of my apartment, Maverick caught my hand and stopped me before I could get away.

“Angel…”

“Mon cherie,” I said softly.  “I promise you, everything is going to be fine, okay?” 

He paused a moment before he sighed and nodded. “Okay.”

I smiled and kissed him softly.  His hand squeezed mine tightly.  When we parted, I gave him a reassuring smile, and went on my way towards the Tower.

“You know you can’t actually keep that promise, right?”  My Ghost said once we were out of earshot.  I nodded in acknowledgement as I carried my helmet in my left hand, and ran my fingers through my hair. But I didn’t want to believe in the possibility of getting locked up again.  I had to perish the thought.

————— 

“Genesis Page, do you understand the gravity of your actions?”  Zavala’s voice was hard and stern.  

I stood before the Vanguard, my helmet placed on the table in front of me.  I avoided eye contact with the Vanguard Commander.  I already explained to him why I disappeared, why I snuck into the Archives, and why I decided to come back.  “Commander, I already explained to you everything.  I know I acted rashly and completely on impulse and my emotions.  And I know that after our unauthorized mission to Phobos, I asked you to give me a chance to prove myself.  I know where I stand, and I know my position isn’t good.  But Commander, please, you must understand—”  I looked up and met his harsh gaze, and he interrupted me before I could continue to defend myself.

“You should be put under lockdown,” Zavala warned, his voice low and cautionary. “Guardian, you are out of control.”

“Genesis is right, Zavala,”  Ikora interrupted.  “She knows she was wrong to act as she did, which not many will admit.  I believe that she should go back into the field after a few days, perhaps.  There is still much she doesn’t know about Maverick and Conor’s mission to kill Crota.”

“Genesis, you left the Tower with nothing but your helmet and a hand cannon,”  Cayde-6 said.  He was staring at me with a mix of admiration and maybe worry.  “You could very well have died.  But you survived on your own on Venus.  And yeah, she screwed up,” he turned to Zavala, “but she’s capable enough to continue.  She should go back into the field, her fireteam needs her to complete this mission.”

“And now that she knows the truth of Crota’s death,” Eris said from the side of the room,  “she is better equipped to carry out this mission to end the Taken King.”

“Enough!”  Zavala shouted and slammed a fist on the table.  I winced and looked down again.  “Genesis, you must be put under lockdown.  We let you go once, but we can’t make the same mistake again.”  

“Zavala, please, if you would just listen—!”

He held up a hand to silence me, then typed in a code on the table.  Two of the Bounty Hunters that I passed on my way inside walked in behind me.  

No, I thought to myself.  Not today.  

Arc energy surged through my core, straight through my arms, legs, and mind.  I cast my Stormtrance and looked over at the Bounty Hunters, who backed off, but still kept their weapons trained on me.  I turned back towards the Vanguard.  They all had backed away from the table, but Ikora was smiling proudly and Cayde was grinning, like he was antsy to see what was happening next.  Zavala was the only one who looked angry that I cast my super inside of the Tower.  Before he could react or say a thing, I blinked directly in front of him, my eyes white with the Arc energy that was flowing through my body.

“Go ahead, Commander,” I taunted.  “Lock me up.  Try.  But I am no use to the Vanguard or to my team if I am on lock down.”

I heard the door burst open behind me, both Skinner and Maverick had rushed inside, ready to defend me.  I turned to look at them and they both stopped in place.  I had this under control.  Skinner nodded and placed a hand on Mav’s shoulder, but they both were grinning.  I turned back to Zavala once the Arc Light around me faded.  He simply stared at me in disbelief.  But I didn’t touch him.  His bounty hunters couldn’t do anything, since I didn’t attack anyone.  After a moment of tense silence, Zavala sighed.

“Your temper needs to be brought under control, Guardian.”

“I am in complete control of my emotions and my Light, Commander.”

He walked away from me and over to Ikora, and they spoke quietly for a moment.  I glanced at my Fireteam with a faint smile on my lips.  I was glad they had my back, even if I didn’t need it.

“Yes… Very well…” Zavala turned back to me, almost looking disappointed.  “Genesis, you will be able to return to the field after a few days to… cool off.  Take this time to learn more about your Fireteam.  Be ready to return to the field in 72 hours.  Dismissed.”

The Vanguard all left the room, followed by the bounty hunters.  I looked at Maverick and Skinner, and walked over to him.  I smiled at Mav.  “See?  I told you everything would be fine.”

Skinner laughed maniacally.  “You should have seen the look on Zavala’s face!  The only other person who’s stood up to Zavala like that had been Metal Man over here!”

Maverick hugged me tightly.  “Good.  I say we all go drinking before we sit down and talk about the team’s history.  This is a victory for all of us.  Especially you.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you confront someone like that, especially not the Vanguard,” Skinner added as we walked out of the room.

“Well,” I said and wrapped one arm around each of their shoulders.  “What can I say?  I have a family to fight for.”

Maverick leaned down to my ear.  His mouth brushed gently against the shell of my ear and my cheeks lit up pink with blush.  “I’m proud of you, Angel,”  he said quietly, so quietly that Skinner didn’t even hear him.

I smiled softly as we entered the Plaza and Skinner hit the button for the Elevator down to the City.  “Thank you,” I whispered back.

[felwinter-deactivated20201218]

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXIV

Chapter 24 : Hiding Part 1 of the Destined series masterlist

word count : 1.6K tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop

When I landed on Venus, I rode my sparrow towards that cave that Maverick took me to.  It was the only place outside of Vanguard reach that I could go to, and hopefully Maverick wouldn’t think to look for me there.  At least not first.  I didn’t want him to find me right away, I needed time to think, to figure out why he had to keep his secrets.  I wasn’t ready to face him.  I still wasn’t wearing my armor, so I had to be extremely careful in danger zones.  Despite my caution, I took a bullet in the side from a Hobgoblin from across the Endless Steps.  I cried out in pain as I peeled around the corner and started through the woods, clutching onto my waist.  The pain was rippling through my entire torso and warm blood seeped through the fabric and between my fingers.  When I reached the cave, I got off my sparrow and leaned against the outside wall of the cliff side, my hands were shaking.

“Dawn...”

“Already on it.” She said as she started to heal the wound that was soaking my side with blood.  “You should have worn your armor.  I can bring some down from the ship.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said softly.  “I’ll be fine here.”  I stood up and walked inside the cave and lit the oil lamps, then pulled off my helmet after my Ghost set wards so I could breathe in here.  The air on Venus was growing cold as night was starting to fall.  I laid down and curled up on the cot, hugging myself.  Part of me wished I hadn’t read those files.  My heart felt broken, and my stomach plunged when I started crying again.  Everything that I’ve been feeling over the last 24 hours came out all at once.  Betrayal, despair, anger, used… It all hurt.  I pulled a blanket that was folded in the corner over my body and closed my eyes.  

I woke the next morning feeling weak and stiff.  I sat up and looked around at the bare walls around me, illuminated by the faint orange glow of the oil lamps.  “Dawn…  Can you bring down my supplies?”

“What, your paints and brushes.”

“Yes.”

She pulled them down and I stared at the empty walls.  My body still felt weak, but I had to sort out my emotions somehow.  I started painting, all of my emotions flowing out through my paintbrush.

“Are you going to forgive him?” Dawn asked me once I had painted the dark reds and oranges on the wall.  

“Maybe.  I just need to figure out why.  Why would he hide so much from me?  You don’t understand, peu de lumière, I feel like I don’t know the man at all anymore.”

I continued painting.  It was of a sketch I did without Maverick’s knowledge.  It was him as a Sunbreaker, his arm pulled back, ready to throw his hammer, and I as a Sunsinger, my arm raised above me, clutching a grenade.  The solar energy that surrounded us gave me my wings, and it gave Maverick a sort of flaming halo.  Despite the negativity I felt towards him right now, I still loved him.  I couldn’t change the feelings I had for him.  It was why I felt betrayed, why I couldn’t break this feeling of despair.  Deep down, I still loved him.  He was all I had after my Fireteam died.  

It took me two days to finish that painting.  The vibrant warm colors seemed to glow in the cave, especially when they reflected the glow of lamps.  I sat down on the ground in front of the wall, my arms and clothes were spotted with paint smudges and droplets from the endless work I had done.  My sense of weakness had grown.  I’ve barely had anything to eat or drink.  I slept a total of 4 hours over the past 72, and I was so mentally exhausted that I barely felt anything now.  I felt numb to everything that had happened.  

I had gotten my answers.  Even though the answers I got weren’t what I wanted to hear, they were the truth.

“I think I know why,” I murmured softly to my Ghost.  “I think I know why he hid everything from me.”

“Oh?”

“What if he just… wanted to be a normal Guardian again?  What if he didn’t want all of his titles.  Maybe… Maybe he just wanted me to see him for himself.  See him as a Guardian, not as a legend.  Maybe he just wanted me to be his friend, so I wouldn’t idolize him.  What if… what if he just… didn’t want to be forced to remember all that he’s gone through.”

There was silence between my Ghost and I.  My head was spinning.  I closed my eyes and leaned back against one of the walls.  I held fast onto my hand cannon.  I was starting to become afraid.  What if the bounty hunters were getting close?  My head was pounding from the lack of food and water I’ve had over the last couple of days.

“Genesis, are you alright?”  My Ghost asked and hovered in front of me.

“Oui, peu de lumière, I’m just… tired.”

“Your vitals are dropping, Guardian, I’m bringing some food and water down from the Ship.”

“Non, non… s'il vous plaît, ne t'en fais pas.”*

While my Ghost was gone to the Ship, I heard the whirr of a Sparrow approaching.  Then before I knew it, the door burst open.  I screamed out loud and held up my weapon, though my hands were shaking violently.  As I did, I saw the red eye of a Vex, but before I could pull the trigger in defense, Maverick's voice cut through the air.

“Angel!”  Maverick shouted and hurried over to me.  He knelt down in front of me, removed his helmet, and moved the barrel of my gun down.  He looked at me closely before his arms wrapped around me, and he held me close to him.

“Ah… mon chérie… je suis désolé…”  I murmured as I leaned my face into his chest.  His hand gently held my head and tucked me close against him.

“I’m so sorry, Angel,” he said quietly.  “I was going to tell you in the morning.  But by then you were gone…  I’ve been looking all over for you.  I was starting to lose hope.”

“Maverick…” I looked up at him, my vision blurry as tears started to leak on my cheeks again.  “I’m sorry… I should have trusted you…”

“But you had reason to doubt.  I wish I had told you the truth sooner.  But… I was afraid you would hate me.”

“I could never hate you.  Never.  I just… I wanted to understand.  I felt like I was missing so many pieces.  I… I honestly thought you didn’t trust me.”

“That’s not true, Angel.  I just didn’t know if you would trust me after I told you.”  Mav gently held my head in his hands, his fingers wiping the tears beneath my eyes away, just as Dawn came back from the ship.

“You know, I knew you were going to show up eventually,” she said and started to heal me.  I felt energy rush back into my body, but my muscles still felt weak.  I was still incredibly tired.

“C’mon, I gotta get you out of here.  You need rest.  What’s happened over the past three days?”

“Oh you know,” Dawn chirped, “she hasn't eaten or drank anything, maybe 5 hours of sleep total.  She spent most of her time doing that.”  My Ghost said while flashing her light on the wall.  Maverick paused and looked at it, almost seeming to be amazed.

After a few minutes, though, he turned his attention back to me.  I didn’t protest as he lifted me up into his arms, one under my knees, the other behind my shoulder.

“Little Light, bring us up to my ship.  Can you fly hers back to the Tower?”

“Of course,” my Ghost said.  “I’ll be right behind you.”

“I’m so dead when we get back,” I murmured softly.  “Zavala is definitely going to put me on total lock down again.”

“I promise you, Angel,” Maverick said firmly once we had transmatted onto his ship.  “I won’t let that happen to you.”  He set me down gently in the co-pilot seat.  He strapped me in securely and then met my gaze and traced his fingers along the side of my face.  I leaned my head on his hands.  “Hang tight, okay?  You might just need to get back on Earth, have some real oxygen in your lungs, and get some sleep in an actual bed.  I promise you, I will spend the rest of my life making this up to you.”

“Maverick… you don’t have to… Just… promise me you won’t keep things from me again.”

“I promise.  Now can I please get you home so you can sleep?  I will hold off Zavala and his bounty hunters, even if it means I have to throw a hammer into his face.”

I laughed weakly.  I knew he would, too, even though Sunbreakers were unwelcome in the Last City.  “Okay, okay, I’ll rest.  Let’s just go home.”

We entered slip space back to the Tower, the entire time Maverick was grasping tightly onto my hand, unwilling to let go.  I allowed myself to slip into deep sleep in the co-pilot seat.

--- translations ---

*No, no, please, don’t worry about it.

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXIII

Chapter 23 : Answers Part 1 of the Destined Series masterlist

word count : 1.3K tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @speed-boop @shins-wife​

“Genesis, you really don’t have to do this,” My Ghost said once I slipped past the Vanguard into the Archives.  Skinner’s card gave me access, and there was a Fireteam code on the bottom of it.  All Fireteams had their own identification code, nothing was by name in order to protect team privacy in case of a breach.  I approached a computer at the back of the room, but I hesitated.  I gently pressed the card against my lips, then turned to look behind myself to make sure I wasn’t being watched.  Dawn was right, I didn’t have to do this.  But I need answers.

“Just get ready to copy the file, Dawn.”

I slid the card and the computer started to bring up the Fireteam’s data.  I watched file after file appear on screen and my eyes widened.  They’ve been going so much longer than I realized.  All of their names and aliases appeared on the top of the screen.  

Maverick-8, “Mav,” Titan, Fireteam Leader. Conor, “Skinner,” Hunter, Front Line Assault. Aleckzander, “Paradox,” Hunter, Long Range Assault. Jamison-6, “Enigma” Hunter, Reconnaissance. Ryan, “Shadow,” Titan, Demolitions Expert. Samuel, “Vision,” Titan, Front Line Assault.

“Woah…” I uttered under my breath as I scrolled through the mission files.  There were so many of them, all under the name of the final target. 

Sepkis Prime, The Devils Lair, Cosmodrome, Earth…  Draksis, Winter’s Kell, Fallen Ketch, Ishtar Sink, Venus…   The Black Heart, The Black Garden, Meridian Bay, Mars…  Atheon, Vault of Glass, Ishtar Sink, Venus…   Omnigul, The Will of Crota, Jovian Complex, Old Russia Cosmodrome, Earth…  Crota, Son of Oryx, The Hellmouth, Ocean of Storms, Earth’s Moon… Skolas, The Silent Fang, Citadel, Ishtar Sink, Venus… 

“There it is…”  I breathed.  My heart was pounding as I selected the mission report for the raid they did on the Moon and took out my Ghost, who started downloading the data file.  The file didn’t take long, but I wanted to print the file out at home so I could read it physically.  When she finished downloading the file, I logged out and quickly exited the room, though I was trying my best not to be suspicious.  

“Start printing it out, Dawn, I need to read that file the moment I get home.”  I avoided speaking to anyone as I left the Tower.  However, when I passed the Postmaster, I saw Skinner, who was leaning against the railing at the edge of the Tower plaza, his arms crossed over his chest.  We met each other’s gaze, and he gave me a nod.  

When I finally got home I could feel a cold sweat running down my back.  I stripped out of my armor and slipped on a sweater and some sweats, put on a pot of coffee, and picked the file up off of my printer.  I set it on the coffee table, poured myself a cup, and sat down on the couch.  I took a deep breath, and started to read the transcript of the debriefing.

Zavala:  Mission Summary, Maverick. Maverick-8:  [sighs] We went down into the Hellmouth to kill Crota.  It was… difficult to say the least.  We had no communication with the Vanguard once we were down in the Pit.  We made it through the Pit, built and crossed the Bridge, and defeated the Deathsinger, Ir Yut, in the final chamber. Ikora:  And what happened after that?

[long pause]

Ikora:  Maverick? Maverick-8:  Sorry…  We fought Crota, and deduced that the only way to kill him was to use his own sword.  And we succeeded, but… Zavala:  You can’t spare any details,  Maverick, you know that. Maverick-8:  After we killed him, the remaining Hive in the area went ballistic.  We had to flee.  Paradox and Enigma… Sorry, Aleckzander and Jamison-6, were cut off from the rest of us by Gatekeepers and were separated from the rest of us as we tried to escape.  We kept running… Ryan was caught by a Wizard and had his light ripped out of him.  I… I’ve never heard someone scream like that before. Zavala:  How did the rest of you get out? Maverick-8:  We ran back over the bridge and back into the Abyss…  Vision was overrun by Thrall that were chasing us.  We managed to get him up and running, but his eyes were clawed at.  I’m not sure if he’s ever going to be able to see again.  His Ghost was lost in the Abyss.  He… he’s lightless.

[long pause]

Cayde-6:  I think that’s enough. Zavala:  Is there anything you’re leaving out? Maverick-8:  I… I don’t know.  Crota was some Hive’s son, right?   Eris Morn:  Yes, he is the Son of Oryx, a Hive God. Maverick-8:  What happens if he comes back to us for vengeance?  What will we do then?  Zavala, we barely made it out of there alive.  Half of my fireteam is dead.  Is there really nothing that you can do to at least let us go back and find them? Zavala:  No, Maverick.  We cannot allow anyone to go back there.  I’m sorry. Maverick-8:  No you’re not.  You just want to bury this.  But a Fireteam never forgets.  I will never forget.  

I sat back on my couch and ran a hand through my hair.  “So… they did kill him.  They killed Crota.  Why, why would he lie to me?”

“To protect himself, maybe?”  My Ghost suggested.

“No, I think it’s more than that.  I’ve heard about a legendary Guardian, everyone has, but I had no idea it was Maverick.  How could I have known?  He didn’t tell me anything about himself.  I feel like I don’t know him at all!”  Tears were burning in my eyes.  “I can’t believe he lied to me for so long.  He knew that Oryx was trying to avenge his son!  He knew, and he didn’t tell me!  What they did, what they did…” I threw the file angrily across the room.  “It’s the reason why my team… my friends are dead!”

“Genesis, you know he didn’t intend to get your team killed.”

“But he had several chances to tell me the truth!  To tell me why all of this was happening!”

My Ghost fell silent.  I stood up and threw my mug at the wall.  It shattered into pieces and the remaining coffee was .  I paced around my apartment, anger and confusion flowing through my veins.  I clenched my hands into fists and walked over to the painting of Maverick I had done.  I couldn’t stand seeing it, my heart ached and hurt from this petty sense of betrayal.  I screamed aloud and thrust out my hand, and Solar energy erupted from my palm.  The canvas lit into flames and I watched the painting burn.  I was seething with rage, I felt utterly betrayed, and I couldn’t contain my tears anymore.  I collapsed against the wall and broke down.  I didn’t want to believe any of it, but it was in front of me in black and white.  

When I finally gathered myself, I stood shakily on my feet.  “Ghost, I want you to shut down all comms, locations, and feeds.”  I walked upstairs and pulled on a cloak.  It was old and tattered, but it was enough to give me coverage.  I pulled on a helmet, too.  I didn’t put on any armor and my common sense was out a window.  “Transmat me to the ship.” 

“But, Genesis—”

“Just do it, Dawn!”  I snapped.  She transmatted me up to my ship, and I left for orbit without any clearance from the Vanguard.  I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew wherever I was going, it was somewhere that Zavala’s bounty hunters couldn’t find me.  I took a few deep breaths and thought.  “Set a course for Venus.”

“Where are you going, Genesis?”

“Somewhere they won’t find me.”

message from the author: *whips and nae naes* it’s time to hit the angst button!

[fireteam-dauntless]

A Tale of Two Guardians XXII

Chapter 22 : Lost to Light Part 1 of the Destined Series masterlist

word count : 2.7k tag list : @mail-me-a-snail @basically-nacl @shins-wife @speed-boop 

We returned to the Tower later that night.  I had invited Maverick to my place for a cup of coffee.  He declined, saying he wanted to check on Skinner.  I nodded and let him go, and went home to my apartment to crash for a couple hours.  Zavala wanted to meet with us for our next mission.  The next morning, Skinner, Maverick, and I stood before Zavala, Cayde-6, Ikora, and Eris.

“So Guardians, I would like to speak to you before you leave for the Hellmouth. To retrieve a shard of Crota’s soul crystal.” Eris said.

“Sure, Eris, what is it?” Maverick asked.

“This is more for the Warlock as she doesn’t know who Crota is. It began with Crota. But Crota was only a servant of his father, sent to extinguish the last of the Light. The great battle fought for the soul of our world ended in slaughter. The son was dead. And we invited the wrath of Oryx, destroyer of light. Taker of will. Only Ascendent Hive move between Ruptures. To reach Oryx, you must walk in the dying footsteps of his son. You must become Ascendent.” 

What did she mean that Crota was dead?

“Alright if you're done Eris we should get going.” Maverick said. 

She nodded and walked away.  We left the Hall of Guardians and walked toward our ships.

“Alright so I hate that place so let’s get in and get out as soon as possible,” Maverick grunted once we got into orbit.

“I agree Mav, that place unsettles me.” Skinner added.

“But it’s not like we’re going down into the Pit right?” I asked.

“Yes, but still, I just hate the Hive and the Taken don’t help.  Now fall into slip space formation you two.”

It was a very short jump from Earth to the Moon.  Maverick decided to have us transmat onto a ledge, a little bit down inside the Hellmouth. As we dropped in, Eris’s voice came quietly over comms.

“Hold fast to Toland’s journal. It saw me through my time in the Dark.”

“Hold fast to your gun, Guardians.” Cayde interjected. “You’re headed back to the chamber where they held Crota’s soul.”

‘Back to his chamber?’ Maverick and Skinner have been here before?

“What does he mean by ‘back to his chamber’ Mav?” I asked.

“Well, you see, we got sent to destroy his crystal. Which was his physical form in our world,” Maverick replied.

“Oh, okay…”  Something… something isn’t adding up.

The Hive seemed to know immediately that they had intruders.  Mostly Thrall and Acolytes, so we cut through them with ease.  Cayde came back over comms before I could ask any more questions when the fighting was done..

“Alright. Here’s what needs to happen. We have to steal a Hive crystal that still has a trace of Crota’s soul so you can pass through a dimensional portal on the Dreadnaught and kill Oryx. I leave anything out Eris?”

“It must be done before Oryx turns his scrying eye to this realm.”

“Good luck fireteam.”

We fight through some Hive and reach the door leading deeper into the dark halls.  Deep down in my gut, this unsettling sense of dread started grip my stomach.

“Come on this way,” Mav said, pointing down the hall, deeper into the dark.

“It’s a little dark, let me light the way,” Skinner’s Ghost suggested before illuminating the dark hall.

“Toland’s journal contains an impressive amount of data,” My Ghost said.  “I should probably read it… Done.  Some of this stuff is fascinating!”  She exclaimed before playing an excerpt from the journal.

“A Dreadnaught shields the Hive from the Traveler’s Light.  Were we to pass through its deepest layers, our Light would be as a dying sun.”

“I don’t think Toland was much fun at parties,” Skinner groaned.

As we started to leave the darkened hallway, we saw a lot of Thrall feeding.  Skinner began to raise his weapon and I followed suit, but Mav stopped us.  The two of us looked at him accusingly.

“Don’t shoot,” he whispered.  “I don’t want to be chased by Thrall right now.”

“Ugh fine Mav,” Skinner whispered back.

“If the Thrall still feed, Crota’s essence must endure,” Eris said.

We reached the crystal without incident, but the moment we approached it an Ogre climbed out of a cave and began to engage.

“Shit, I knew this was too easy,” Maverick cursed.

“It’s just an Ogre Mav.  Let’s kill the damn thing, get the shard and get out of here,” Skinner butt in, already clearing his holster.

We began to fight the Ogre, but it was constantly charging at us and it’s Eye Blast it was tough to dodge it at times.  As the battle raged on, I lost count of the amount of bullets we shot at it.  It seemed to go on forever.  The Ogre began to fumble and trip on itself, but before we could land a killing blow on it, a Taken rift formed above and sucked in the Ogre.

“It’s gone!” Maverick exclaimed.  “I think Oryx just took an Ogre…”

Eris responded over the Vanguard Channel.  “Not even Oryx can control an Ogre. Unless it’s Taken. Now quickly, I need a shard of that crystal.”

“Skinner, cut a chunk out of that crystal.” Mav said.  It was an order, and the edge in his voice unsettled me.  I get that he didn’t like being down here, but I’d never seen him so on alert before.

“You got it, Metal Man,” After a bit of cutting with a heated blade, he held up the shard triumphantly.

“We’ve got it.” Maverick said to Eris.

“I knew it could be done. And does it still hold the whisper of Crota’s soul?”

“According to my Ghost’s analysis it’s empty.”

“No matter. Return to me, Guardians, and we will destroy—” Static started to flood the feed from some kind of interference.  I opened my palm and pulled out my Ghost to examine the feed.  Something was trying to completely cut us off from the Vanguard.

“Maverick, this interference…”

“[static] Fireteam? We’re losing you. Fireteam can you hear…?” [static] As the channel cut out, an Echo of Oryx appeared.  We all backed away from the crystal and held fast to our weapons.  I felt Maverick’s hand placed on my arm as he dragged me behind himself and Skinner.

“Was killing Crota not enough for you?!”  The Echo bellowed.  “Your Light dies here!”

I felt my heart sink and my blood run cold.  They… they killed Crota?  They lied to me?  Before I could question Maverick, Taken began to appear from blights left and right. And then the Ogre came out of the central blight.  In five seconds, we were overwhelmed.

“There’s too many of them!  Run!”  Maverick shouted.  We all turned on our heels and ran fast out of the chamber, Taken thrall on our heels and the Taken Ogre was shooting at our backs.  Simultaneously, the three of us tossed our grenades behind us to slow them down.

We began to run out of the room dodging weapons fire the best we could as we ran. We returned to the darkened hallway in which we came. We all tried calling out to Eris and Cayde but got no response.  That Echo must have been what was interfering with the signal.  I held up my hand for them to stop now that the Taken weren't chasing us.  I need answers.  I grabbed Maverick’s arm and made him look at me.

"Maverick, what did he mean by ‘was killing Crota not enough for you’?  What did you do?  What are you hiding from me!"  I could feel my hands shaking with the combination of anger and betrayal.

"Storm now's not the time to…"  He began to try and end this conversation, but I wasn’t having it.  I cut him off before he could continue.

"I think now's the perfect time, seeing that Oryx just said what I've been thinking.  Tell me the truth for once, damn it.  Did.  You.  Kill.  Crota."  I demanded.

"I don't know Storm!"  He began to raise his voice at me, "All Skinner, Vision, and I did was destroy his crystal.  Like I said before it was his physical form in our world."

“You expect me to believe that?!”  My voice cracked as it raised in anger.  “What happened in the Pit, Maverick, tell me!”

“Storm,  I can’t tell you more than I already have!  I don’t have the answers you want!”

I wanted to challenge him again, but Skinner knocked us both upside the head and cut me off before I could even open my mouth.  “Guys, now is not the time!"  He pointed behind us and the Taken Thrall that were closing in again.

"Great, let’s work on getting out of here."  Maverick sounded relieved.  He was quick to change the subject and we headed back to the room to get out of there.  But I saw Skinner give Maverick a look, one I couldn’t quite read, but it resembled something like frustration.

When we came into the next room after gunning down the Thrall behind us, the Taken were there ready to make us fight to escape.  We ran in to quickly take down the Taken in the room, I still had the creeping feeling that the Taken from the grave were behind us.  Even though we were fighting among ourselves, we still worked as an effective team.  Slaughtering any Taken that dared to oppose us.  Maverick went back to the door we came in but it was shut, then I found the other door sealed with some kind of lock.

“The Taken locked us in with this… Lock?  I guess it's what this is.  Peu de lumière, can you see if Toland's journal has anything on this?”  I asked.

“Yeah, give me a second,” she said before playing an excerpt from the journal.

“It's long been my belief that the binds which hold the greatest Hive terror could be lifted by releasing the energy stored within their tomb husks.”

"What the hell does it look like?"  Maverick muttered in bewilderment.

"I think it looks like this," Skinner said from behind us, holding some sort of Hive relic.

"Ok,” Maverick said, “shove into that lock I guess."

"No shit," He spat back to Mav as he pushed into the lock. 

It glowed for a second before the lock broke and faded away.

"Remind me to make copies of this journal when we get back," My Ghost said.

We began to fight through the Taken that appeared after we opened the door, and we began to follow the stream of Taken to the next open room.  This time there were more of them but they didn't stand much of a chance against a pissed off fireteam that was angry with their leader.  We approached the next door.

“Really?!  Two locks!”  Mav groaned in frustration.

I rolled my eyes.  “Come on, Mav, the husks should be around somewhere.”

“Yeah I see one,” Skinner said before running off to go get it.

“I'll go look for the second one,” Mav said.  “Storm, guard the door.  Make sure nothing gets close.”  Then he walked away from me, and I shot down anything that tried to get close.  Skinner came back to me first and pushed his relic into the lock.

“What took so long, Titan?”  Skinner taunted once Maverick got over to us.

“Well if you must know I got ambushed by a Knight but don't worry I killed it, now let's go.”  Mav said as he shoved the second husk into the other lock.

The Vanguard's channel came through, but only for enough time for Eris to say, "[static] we're going to lose them, just like Eriana!"

“Come on guys!  The connection’s getting stronger!”  Maverick yelled back to us.  I rolled my eyes, that much was obvious.  The clock was ticking, but the further we advanced, the more likely we were to get out alive.

“Yeah like my connection to throw knives at your head again,” Skinner muttered.

We followed the path to another room.  Bigger than the last two.  And there were a small number of Taken here.  Considering the size of the room it was surprising that there weren't more of them.  The two of them started to rush inside, but I caught sight of a tomb husk and picked it up.

“You dumbasses almost ran by this husk,” I said and held it up when I caught up to them.

“Well I guess it's better to have a tomb husk then not need it than to need a tomb husk and not have it,” Maverick stated as we advanced in the room.  We made short work of the small Taken defence force.

“Three locks,” I said and pushed my husk into the lock. “Well you can't say they’re not trying.”

As the lock faded, blights began to form and produce Taken and Thrall started to fall out of the walls.  We stood in a triangle, and readied our weapons. 

"Kill the Taken first.  Then search for the other husks." Mav commanded.

We cut down the second wave of Taken defenders and started searching for the husks.  Maverick found one close but behind a wall and grabbed it, then made his way back to me at the door.  Skinner ran back holding the other husk and they put them in at the same time.  The door began to open and Taken began to appear behind us as we ran out the door.

“[Static] fireteam?  Get out of that Pit!  We need that crystal or we'll never reach Oryx!”  Eris said in a moment the Vanguard channel came in and out again.

"We're close guys. Just follow me!" Maverick said to Skinner and I, we both nodded and followed in tight formation behind him.

We ran past most of the Taken and reached the room before the outside being guarded by a Taken Wizard.  Maverick didn’t hesitate and he pulled out his Gjallarhorn, taking down the Wizard in two shots.  With it's death the doors opened to the outside and we rushed towards it as more Taken blights began to form behind us.

The Vanguard channel began to come in clear as day with Cayde on the other end beginning to speak.

“[Fading static] Fireteam, is that you?”

“Yeah, we made it out Cayde,” Maverick replied as we stood outside the Temple of Crota.

“Then the Taken King will fall, now bring me his dead son's crystal,”  Eris said.

“That's how Eris says she appreciates your sacrifice.  Glad you guys are safe,” Cayde said before cutting the channel.

We all got into our ships and returned to the Tower.  Our trip back home was mostly in silence.  When we landed in the Hanger, I tried to get Maverick’s attention, but he was gone and away from me before I could ask any more questions.  I watched his back and clenched my hands in fists.  I punched the side of my ship, leaving a Scorch mark on the paint.

“Storm…” I looked up at Skinner as he approached me, his hands in his pockets.  He looked around, as if checking that no one was watching us.  He pulled a thin card made out of Glimmer and handed it to me.  “That… has the code to our Fireteam’s mission reports and archives.  There’s a lot of sensitive information in there, but it should have the answers you’re looking for.”

I looked up at Skinner with wide eyes.  “Skinner…”

“Don’t.  I’ve wanted to tell you the truth, but there’s a reason why our records are locked.  Only the original fireteam and the Vanguard knows what really happened.”  He turned and started to walk away from me, but paused and looked back over his shoulder.  “Oh, yeah, and don’t tell Maverick.  He doesn’t want me to do this, but… you deserve to know.”

I watched him leave and looked down at the card in my hands.  I tapped it thoughtfully against my opposite hand and chewed on the inside of my cheek.

“What are you going to do?”  My Ghost asked.

“Get ready to copy a lot of information, Ghost,” I uttered coldly, and started walking out of the Hanger and towards the Hall of Guardians.  “I’ve got answers to find.”