Wisps of inky black smoke faded against the background of the sky. The stars were shining bright, brighter than they seemed to on most nights, silhouetting the outline of a woman as she walked through the wreckage and rust of the Cosmodrome. The wisps, and her very nature, combined to make her outline shimmer and flicker, jutter against the still and partially ruined buildings. Seemingly disjointed, she walked without any armor on, not expecting anything in the area to really pay attention to her (when was the last time she was afraid of Hive? Surely she was before being Taken, but since then, they either ignored her, or seemed to be afraid and respect her presence).
She hadn’t forgotten that Guardians patrolled the Cosmodrome, but she doubted that there would be any in the field so late at night, when even Hive and Eliksni would take time to rest, and...the night was peaceful, and beautiful. She didn’t want to miss out on it, nor on the feelings that rested in her soul as she breathed the cool, sharp air in deeply.
A feeling of calm surrounded her.
Until she heard voices behind her. Immediately, the wisps slunk back under her clothes, wrapped themselves around her tightly as she pulled her hood up and cursed herself for not bringing her mask with her.
Before she could run, two Guardians spotted her and, before she could truly think of a way out, they were before her, trying to get a look at her face. “Well this is an unusual sight, wouldn’t you say Greyson. What’s a civilian doing all the way out here by yourself?” As one, a Titan by the look of it leaned forward, she tucked her face and tried to look away while he leered at her. “Don’t ‘cha know it’s dangerous out by yourself? Let us escort you back to the City.”
“Oh, I’m all right,” her voice was soft as she tried to wrangle the echoes into submission. She didn’t want trouble, even as part of her instincts awoke and murmured soft nothings of violence in the back of her mind. “I’m not a civilian, just uh...it’s been a while since I’ve been out in the field and I figured...remapping the territory in my mind while Eliksni and Hive are asleep was a good way to start.” From the corner of her eye, she saw the two Guardians share a look.
“Oh yeah?” This one, Greyson, was a Warlock, the horned helm was a surefire giveaway. “How long have you been out of the field? What for?”
Frowning, she took a couple steps back. “Do you really need to know? I don’t need any help getting back to the City, so you both really should be on your way.”
“We’re just tryna be friendly. Not many Guardians leave the field for ‘a while’ only to come back to it. Most end up dead after all and...well, from the sound of what my Ghost just told me, you don’t seem all that human, or Awoken for that matter.” The two stepped closer as the Titan spoke, splitting to partially circle her. “So...why don’t you tell us why someone who has Taken energy on them is doing out here all alone?”
“I was injured in the Taken war alright. And I am enjoying the night to myself, or I was, until you decided to come along.” She was still trying to avoid their gazes, but her impulses of violence, the side of her still connected to the Taken and Hive ways, it called out for blood. She’d seen the Titan die on the Dreadnaught to Thralls, and yet he thought he could intimidate her? She could show him just what it was he should be terrified of. Break his bones, bleed him dry. Leave broken on the ground and snatch his Ghost out of the air, drink the Light from it while watching the Light leave his eyes at the realization that there was no hope of surviving now.
NO. She couldn’t do that. What would...what would the others who were so kindly helping her think if she fell back into old ways. Lynx and Scout might not care but...what about Nemo and Sviat? Or Mephisto and Forneus? She couldn’t disappoint them, she couldn’t bear it. Did she even want to fall back into those ways?
So wrapped up in her thoughts as she tried to control her impulses, that Pharne missed the times the two others had spoken to her, and missed their anger at being annoyed.
“You wanna disrespect us so easily huh?!” Only at Greysons raised voice did Pharne snap out of her thoughts. Whipping around to face him, she realized a half second to slow that the Titan was still behind her.
CRACK
Crumpling to the ground, she clutched her head as blood soaked through her skin, out onto the ground and through her hoodie. With a boot to her middle, she groaned as her body rolled, her hood now skewed around her neck, revealing her face to the other two. The back of her head ached, and through the blood, she saw the Titans’ hammer. Well shit, no wonder it hurt and bled so much.
She couldn’t dwell on it for long as the two looked at her with looks of disgust.
“What the fuck? Injured during the Taken War huh? What kind of injury left you looking like...like one of them?” Greyson snarled down at her, the horns of his helmet tucked under his arm gleamed in the moonlight. “Fuckin...just put her out of her misery Roy. Must be terrible, knowing she’ll never really be considered human with that sort of shit clinging to her.”
A rage came over Pharne as Roy chuckled. With a swing of her foot, Greysons’ leg was hooked, and she knocked him to the ground. She didn’t need her sword to do damage. It only took her knife for blood to bloom from his neck and pour out onto the ground. The power didn’t last long as that hammer smashed against her back, sending her flying forward and crashing to the ground breathless.
Rolling over, she sent a knife flying. It shot past Roy, and his obnoxious chuckles were cut short by the feeling of Light that washed over them like a shockwave.
Pharne didn’t smile. She was too busy struggling to stand up, and there was no sense of satisfaction over the kill. However, the shock on Roy’s face did bring her some sense of it.
Dodging his next few attacks, she knew was on the back foot from the start with the two initial hammer blows, but she fought as well as she could without armor and her sword or guns. Ducking a hammer blow, the punch of the Titan (and it was Titans she struggled to win against when on her own, unless she got the upperhand through an ambush, otherwise...she always made sure Phaust was with her if they hunted one down) knocked her to the ground.
Stars burst in her vision. Not only was her breath gone, but she felt the partially cracked bones of her skull worsen from the impact.
“You’re a bitch,” Roy snarled, standing over her. When had he gotten there? She wasn’t sure, but her eyes zeroed in on the raised hammer, the point of it sharp and aimed down at her. Belatedly, she felt the pressure on her chest from his boot. “No one’s gonna find your body.”
Her scream rang out. Blood gushed over her cheek and temple. The Titans’ laughter rang out as he moved his boot off her, the point of his hammer through her left eye socket kept her in place well enough, even as the rest of her body thrashed in pain.
As weapons’ point was ripped from her eye socket, Pharne’s breathing turned ragged. Through the blood, one eye blazed with anger as she saw the Titans’ sneering face looking down on her. He lifted his hammer for one last blow. With gravity on his side, he swung down.
She rolled out of the way. From the sound of his surprise, she lunged upwards, ignoring the sudden wave of vertigo, before pulling him down with all her might. His swearing turned to gurgles as she rolled out from where his body should have crushed her. Impaled on the staff point of his own hammer, the one driven through her eye not two minutes before, Roy stared at her in horror as his own life left him.
Finally, his gurgling faded into silence. She waited. At the first shimmer of a Ghost, she caught it in her hands. It trembled. She didn’t want to kill it. She...she just wanted to rest. The blood loss was getting to her. She let it go. “Find another. Find a better one,” were the words she whispered before shambling away from the gruesome sight.
It only took a stray bullet at the break of dawn to shatter through her skull. The sun rose as her blood pooled around her. Sleep was gentle when it took her away.
Pharne awoke in one of the small caverns she’d claimed as her own. Her memory of the night was blurry, disorienting her as she woke up. The left side of her vision was gone, and she wasn’t certain why. “Styx?” Small and frightened, that’s what her voice was as her Ghost floated into view on the right side of her.
“I’m sorry, Pharne.” Her voice was so small as she floated down closer to her...Guardian. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t...I don’t have enough Light. Bringing you back took so much out of me that... I couldn’t bring it back. I don’t know if it can be done now, with how much time has passed.”
Oh. It wasn’t a nightmare then.
With shaking hands, Pharne reached up, trembling fingers lightly pressed over her left cheek, trailing up till they found the edge of where her eye should have been. A hole remained.
She didn’t even realize she was crying, chest heaving for oxygen that she gulped down through sobs, until her Ghost pressed up against her. Who knows how much time passed. But finally, when her sobs quieted and her body no longer shuddered from crying, her Ghost mentioned quietly. “There’s a mechanic we might get help from. In the outskirts of the City, the parts not yet rebuilt. Maybe...maybe they could help us.”
Nodding, Pharne numbly changed into the provided clothes before following Styx. Upon reaching the workshop, the warm glow of it pulled them in. Shuffling uncomfortably as the mechanic turned their attention to them, Pharne grimaced at the gasp that followed. “Um...Coreopsis right?”
Nodding their head, Core was up on their head and holding a hand out for Pharne to take before the other could really process their movements. “Oh my, you look.... Are you in pain? I c-can get something for that if you’d like. Come, I’ve g-got a space for you to sit down, and, do you need anything e-else?”
The immediate worry made Pharne’s eye tear up. Swallowing thickly, as if she were swallowing her tongue, she followed, sitting stiffly in the chair so many others had sat before for repairs. “I...My Ghost said you might be able to help me get my sight back? Can you do that? I...I need my sight back. It’s one of the only things that...that’s mine, that’s still me.” Choking on tears, she buried her face in her hands, not wanting Core to see her like this, not wanting to feel so broken.
Core was quiet for a moment. Sure, they had indeed been experimentally making functional eye replacements since Kit had lost his, but it wasn’t like they had ever been able to test them out on someone. Most people, with the usual exception of Exo’s, didn’t want experimental mechanical based technology in their head. But...their heart ached for Pharne, for the pain that racked through the Taken Hunters’ body.
Resting one hand on Pharne’s knee, they gave a gentle squeeze before speaking softly. “I...It’s experimental currently but, if you’re willing to take the risk, we can certainly try it out.”
With tears down her cheek, Pharne hesitantly looked up at Core. Upon seeing only the genuine want to help did she slowly nod. “Yes….” She murmured the word through cold, numb lips, surprised that someone would help her so quickly, so easily, and without any hesitation. “Please...I’ll pay, I promise. I just...please.”
Nodding, Core patted her knee one more time before gently helping her ease down to lay back in the chair. Bringing over the eye they’d finished, Core sheepishly smiled. “Sorry it’s in gold. Silver s-seems more your color but, this is the only one I have.” As they got everything ready, Snowdrop appeared beside the anxiously hovering Styx. “Now...it’s going to be painful...but with b-both our Ghosts on standby, do you think you’ll be a-able to handle the pain?”
Pharne nodded immediately. The most painful thing she’d ever experienced was being Taken. Getting a new eye would hardly compare to it, and even if it did, nothing would stop her from wanting this. And who knows...maybe gold could become her color.