Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They wake up from the dark clutches of death.

They awake in what appears to be an attempt of mass evacuation. The amount of cars piled against each other makes the theory believable.

They were supposed to be dead.

But they weren't.

They have been awakened, they are breathing...

They are alive...

And they were H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍.

"It worked... You're alive!" A small machine, floating in front of them, celebrated. "You probably have a lot of questions, but let me introduce myself first, I'm a ghost, actually now I'm-..."

The newly risen guardian wasn't listening. They couldn't focus. Their brain was a mush and it was trying to reorganize everything. Trying to remember anything before this "resurrection".

They vaguely remember the panicked screams of people before their voices got shut by… something.

They couldn't remember anything before or after that.

There were only whispers at the back of their mind.

F̶͔͗̾͛͝e̶̮̙̩̓e̷̢̹̦͖͊̈̅̽d̷̦͒

V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍

H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍

D̶̨̾̀̃̚ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀v̶͚̜̹̾̉̂ȯ̸̗̒u̵̬͗̃r̶͔̯͑

…That voice was not their own.

It wasn't some memory of someone else. And it sure as hell wasn't the voice of the friendly machine

It came from somewhere else.

And it didn't sound friendly.

F̶͔͗̾͛͝e̶̮̙̩̓e̷̢̹̦͖͊̈̅̽d̷̦͒

V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍

H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍

D̶̨̾̀̃̚ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀v̶͚̜̹̾̉̂ȯ̸̗̒u̵̬͗̃r̶͔̯͑

The mantra repeated itself over and over while the oblivious ghost continued speaking "you are a guardian. Defender of-...".

The whispers, no, the shouts cut the ghost off.

F̶͔͗̾͛͝e̶̮̙̩̓e̷̢̹̦͖͊̈̅̽d̷̦͒

V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍

H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍

D̶̨̾̀̃̚ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀v̶͚̜̹̾̉̂ȯ̸̗̒u̵̬͗̃r̶͔̯͑

They weren't whispering anymore, they were screaming.

F̶͔͗̾͛͝E̶̮̙̩̓E̷̢̹̦͖͊̈̅̽D̷̦͒

V̷͎͐̔͜Ọ̷̥̓̈́I̶͓͇̔̃͝D̷̪̰̹͌͌̍

Ĥ̴̞̮̯̫̀̍̚̚͝U̵̡̟̙̪̮͕͆̔̾̌̄N̴̫͍̩̉G̵̲͋͌̊͜R̸̜̗̬̔Ý̸̯̇͋͝

D̶̨̾̀̃̚Ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀V̶͚̜̹̾̉̂Ȯ̸̗̒U̵̬͗̃R̶͔̯͑

It was deafening. Painful. The guardian wanted it to stop.

When they thought they couldn't take it anymore, the screams turned into a distorted voice.

F̷̠̟͗̽I̷̥̋͂N̶̤̼͙̎͝D̵͉̙̘̆̈̕ ̴͍̮͘S̵̯̠̎͂̑Ų̷̻̑͜S̵̤͇͈̎̒̎Ṭ̴̻̿A̶̹̯͂̃͜I̷̢͖̓͑̊ͅŃ̴̳ ̶̦͙̥̉I̸̯͇̒͒Ṋ̷̪̌ ̸͔̺͛Y̶̢̅̑O̷̧̼͚͑̉̽Ű̶̞R̶̨̽̽ ̴̯͚͂̾E̵̠̜̽̓͠N̶̰̚E̸̥̪̾̅M̶̧̡͕̅̆͛I̶̟̜͘E̶͔̳͑S̵̱͓̲̈́ ̵̧̹͕͊̋

Ḑ̸̘̪̂E̴̥̓̀̚V̸̢̳͖̇Ǫ̵̮͇́Ȕ̵̺̝͍͊R̶̺̥͙̄̊͌ ̶̶̶̶̨̨̨̨͕͉͕͉͕͉͕͉̇͂̇͂̇͂̇͂T̷̺͗̽͊H̵̡̀̿͊E̸̛̩̗͠M̵̮̣̓̊

F̷̨̛͔͍E̶̳̮͔͒E̵͙̊͊̏D̵̖̻͙̓ ̶̪͗T̴̺͂̅̐H̸̙͕̘͝Ë̵̹́ ̵̠̝̅V̴̧̥͂̓͐Ǒ̶̢̦̈́Į̷̓̈͑Ḍ̸͕͉͐̔ ̴̴̺̺̈́̿̈́̿͠͠

It stopped.

They couldn't enjoy their small moment of peace as an alien-like screech was heard across the sea of rusted cars, stopping the ghost's monologue.

"It's not safe here, this is fallen territory and they will kill you if they find you." Said the ghost. Panicked. "We need to find us a ship to get to a safe place. Hang on...".

The machine suddenly disappeared. The guardian was afraid it left them on their own.

"Don't worry, I'm still here" the voice of the tiny machine spoke from their mind. At least it wasn't screaming. "I'll guide you to what I can assume is a safe place. Just keep moving" it said.

(...)

They were now inside some sort of building, its purpose unknown to them.

While their ghost was trying to get the power back on, they reflected on what little they knew about this new world.

They couldn't remember anything. Was it a side effect from their resurrection? What was the last city this "ghost" spoke about? Who was the traveler? Why was the machine so obsessed with it?

Who, or rather, what was hunting them?

The distorted voice from beyond spoke again.

Ä̴̠́͑͜L̶͓̊L̶͓͂ͅ ̵̔͊͜Q̶̠̑̋Ȕ̷̳Ě̸̘̈́S̶̘͔͐̓T̸̮̰̎̚I̸̫̥͒̄Ő̴̩̪̑Ṅ̴͍̀͜S̷̡͍̾̓ ̷̠̐Ẅ̶͈̮͠I̸͇͋L̷͓̻̋L̵̝̖͗ ̶̢͋̓B̴̪̫͗̏E̴̱̩̊̕ ̵̥́͜A̵̧̾̉Ǹ̵̙͘S̸̘͊Ẅ̵͎Ȅ̷̞̣R̸̅ͅE̴͉̹̍D̵͔̼̊͝ ̷̹͐̈́S̷͕̍O̵̼̿̋O̵̘̜̕N̸̟̐

̶̡̗̺͕́͒͛͑̾̋̆̈̄F̶̛̯̫̥͓̟͙̦̤͛̒̂̾͝E̷͉͒́̽̿́́͠͝E̷̲̰̠̱̽͒Ḋ̵̨̀̚ ̷̧̖̪̗̘̬͚̪̯̇́Ţ̶̦̳̫͖̺͉̔̉́̓̀̊̅̀͝Ḩ̷̤̣̖̈́̕E̶̡͙͕̙̰̲̓̋̕̚ ̵̩͗̅̄̔̈́̔̅̓V̷̧̠̱̠̩̍Ȍ̷̘̮̭̯̗̳̫͚̪̌͆Ḭ̵̬̲͙̘̾͠D̶̖͔̺̪̻̞̠́͘

A̷̪͎̓̂̀̌N̶͎̭̎D̴̎͜ ̶̡̢̻̏̎͒̕Y̵͖̼͝Ô̶̙̦̥͒̎̍Ų̷̻̯͂̈́ ̴̩̞̘͖͗̏̎͠Ẁ̶̲̪̟̘̾Ḯ̸̙̈́̏̔L̴͙̘̳̅L̴̲̽͝ ̶̟̪̿͑ͅS̶̹͓̞̊̑͂Û̶̧̫̎̕R̵̪̱͐̐̔͋͜V̵̨̭͓̙͘̚I̵̜͊̋V̶̤̪̬͚̇́E̸͚͉̺͙̊͛ ̸͈̒̽

Well, now they were more curious. Maybe-

"Got it!" An exclamation of their companion pulled them out of their mind. The voice went silent.

As the building was showered in light, the guardian and their ghost watched as hundreds of blue eyes settled on them, before hiding behind cover.

"Oh no! They know we're here!" Said the panicked companion. "There's a rifle ahead. Grab it and run!".

Y̷̤͕͕̌O̶̭̣͌̅̽͝Ư̸̖̜̓ ̸̨̲̰̦͊̂̂͘Ẅ̵̙̿̕Ö̵̳́̈N̸̫̫̙̫̆̈́'̶̢͖̫̘̍͌̕͝T̸͔͎̲̬̏͗̅̕ ̷̧̛͕Ṅ̵͍͜Ë̶̻̬͈́͜E̶̼̕D̴̤̗̽̒ ̴̛̗̰̦̈́̓͒Î̶͝ͅT̵͖̲͐

A sharp pain covered their entire body.

Their H̸̫̝͙̜͒͛̊̽ǔ̴͚̱̆̽n̸͖̹̮͌̂g̶͈̪̠̪͆̊̕e̸̢̛̗̞͂̚̕r̶̟̫͗̔̉̔ͅ increased tenfold.

They ran past the rifle.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE TRAVELER ARE YOU DOING!?" Oh, now it was screaming. "WE'RE DEFENSELESS WITHOUT A WEAPON. HOW ARE WE GOING TO-"

A Dreg, as If waiting for its cue, fell from the vent in front of the guardian.

D̶̨̾̀̃̚Ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀V̶͚̜̹̾̉̂Ȯ̸̗̒U̵̬͗̃R̶͔̯͑

The guardian instinctively pulled out their hand.

A burst of purple energy shot out from it.

…

The palm strike hit the fallen right on their chest, and a disintegration followed.

The ghost has seen many guardians kill this way. They've seen the way that the body of their enemy vanishes from existence with just a punch.

But it wasn't like the fast, painless death the ghost was familiar with.

The dreg's screams of suffering echoed throughout the building as the void slowly c̷̪̒̂ó̴̮n̷͇̎̈́s̷̪̓̅u̴̯̮̇̓m̷͔̅͊ͅḛ̷̒d̶̠́ its body.

As if it was ș̸̨̾̆a̴̤̋v̵̫̅̕͜ọ̴̈́͋r̸͓̤̒i̸̧̠̇̍n̶͕̊g̷̥̑ it.

Its dying scream would hunt the ghost in their sleep

They looked to their guardian.

"W-well, I guess you don't need a weapon, warlock…"

The guardian didn't respond. They were frozen in place.

But it wasn't from fear.

It was from s̶̽ͅá̶͚͙̕t̴̞̦̔̏̀i̸̤̐͝s̵͕̋̄f̶͇̞̑̽̋ạ̴̋͜c̷̭̩͂̒̚ţ̶̿̌ȉ̷̛̯̗̬͠o̴̧̹͐̄͠n̸͈̓͘.

They have c̷̪̒̂ó̴̮n̷͇̎̈́s̷̪̓̅u̴̯̮̇̓m̷͔̅͊ͅḛ̷̒d̶̠́ their first prey.

But they were still H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍.

And lucky them.

There were more fallen ahead.

—---------

A small Eliksni outpost was settled ahead, awaiting the arrival of the new light.

To say that Fymsel was nervous was an understatement.

The vandal and his crew were going to attempt to eliminate a guardian.

A guardian.

He's only heard stories about their power.

They could ignite a whole patrol with only a revolver and six bullets.

They could shake the earth with electrified slams from their own fists.

But the one that scared him the most was about a guardian that could throw a bomb so powerful that it could make a breach in time and space.

But those were only stories.

Right?

He was going to find out…

(…)

Half an hour.

Still nothing.

His finger caressed the trigger of his wire rifle anxiously.

He should be calmed. Maybe the squad they sent took care of them?

Were those stories truly just made to spook the crew and give them a restless night?

No, he couldn't be that lucky.

An Eliksni scream echoed from the tunnel that gave entrance to their outpost.

…

A yell from their captain.

The guardian was here.

They appeared from the tunnel where the squad was sent.

They were walking calmly.

And there wasn't a single scratch on their armor.

But they were also unarmed.

Did they sneak by the squad unnoticed? Were the others still alive? What was the scream about then? Did someone trip and fell face first into the floor?

He chuckled a bit from his own joke.

Fymsel didn't have time to make another one as the captain gave the order to fire.

And with that command, a beautiful chorus of bullets was all that could be heard in the facility.

Every bullet aimed at the guardian.

That was the last chorus Fymsel and his crew would sing.

As everything went downhill from there…

The guardian leaped to the nearest dreg and hit him with a palm strike. Purple, no, void energy empowering it.

And so the process began.

Scream. Disintegration. Silence.

The scream of his brother slowly disappearing from existence stuck to his mind, sending chills down his spine.

He focused even more.

Because if he failed.

If the crew failed.

They would meet the same fate.

But it was like trying to stop a ketch.

Every bullet impact on the guardian's armor was repaired whenever one of his brothers fell.

They weren't able to fire enough bullets to put them down before another nightmare-inducing scream was heard!

They had to do the maximum amount of damage to avoid repeating the cycle of hit, kill, heal!

Then an idea struck Fymsel.

"Wait for the captain to fire!" He said to his sniping brothers "when he hits, we all shoot at the same time!".

It wasn't a good plan, but it was the only one they had.

Another scream.

They readied their weapons.

And waited…

The moment the Captain's shrapnel launcher hit the guardian, they all pulled the trigger.

All of them were direct hits.

A sound similar to glass shattering echoed over the arena as the guardian fell to the ground with a thud.

It tried uselessly to get up before its strength seemed to fully drain.

The outpost went silent…

Before being broken by the celebratory cries of the Eliksni

They had done it! They were going to kill a guardian!

Maybe the stories really were just stories!

The crew slowly approached the finally wounded new light.

All of them, except for the snipers, who stayed at the back, were surrounding the monster. Ready to put them back on the cold embrace of death.

Unfortunately, their story couldn't finish with a happy ending…

The guardian still had one more trick…

And because neither Fymsel, nor the crew, ever heard of a guardian capable of becoming a walking reality-bending bomb, they suffered the consequences by becoming F̵͉̭̳̫̈́̉ọ̵͈̳̾͐̔ȍ̴̪͖͛̾̓d̶͓̼̯͕̚…

The guardian suddenly jumped to its feet. it was levitating.

An explosion erupted from the body of the law-bending abomination that was the guardian.

If before it was a battle of Fallen against Guardian, now it was a massacre, with the Fallen being the sheep, and the guardian the wolf.

Dregs flew away in a purple haze. The only proof they ever existed was their dying scream that only him and the guardian's ghost would remember.

The captain was on the floor, with burning void marks all over his body. He would not survive much longer.

Fymsel remembered a quote from an Eliksni veteran as he watched the chain of explosions that brought the downfall of his house.

"If you think you've seen it all," he said "I won't believe you until you tell me that you've seen a guardian release its true potential, because there's nothing more beautiful and terrifying than watching a guardian unleash their full light."

Fymsel thought that the years have caught up to the old Eliksni.

But here he was, admiring the horrifying beauty of this massacre. He could tell the elder about this if he managed to survive…

Oh. The captain was gone, a purple stain where it once was, and their sniping brothers have already been taken care of, judging by a scream.

For how long did he wander off?

The guardian was in front of him,looking at him. No emotion in their eyes.

Although maybe it was just the helmet that covered their face.

It approached him, agonizingly slow like a raven circling around its prize, and gently floating above the ground like a butterfly.

They extended their hands towards his face.

Fymsel closed his eyes, for he knew what was about to come.

He always thought that the void was cold.

The hands of the guardian were literally melting his skin.

This was the end of his story…

But then a sniper shot impacted the back of the guardian.

It didn't even flinch.

The guardian lost interest in him, and dropped him on the ground. It snapped at where the shot originated.

Fymsel grabbed his cheeks. They were burning and a sickly sizzle could be heard. He searched for the source of the shot.

And found a vandal, lying on the ground, sniper in hand.

One of his brothers was still alive.

And they were trying to save him.

"But why?" Fymsel thought to himself "Why throw away your chance to escape? To save future purple particles? To die honorably?".

The sudden spike of pain from the void marks on his cheeks were the only response he received.

The reality-bending entity quickly teleported towards their next prey.

The vandal hero couldn't fire another shot before their rifle was disintegrating in purple haze.

Then Fymsel got a first row seat to watch the show unfold.

His face was still burning, courtesy of the void.

—------

They put their hands right on the cheeks of their next meal. Such valor and determination from this Fallen.

Shame it had to go like the rest.

S̶̳̮̖̎A̷̿͒̕ͅV̴̳̺͒̄̅O̷̡̠̹̗̐̏̓̾U̴͓̍̓̈́̌R̶̤̯͈̉̿̿ͅ ̷̞̀̃T̴̖͈̙̼͋H̷̠͈̳̫͝Ǐ̶̼͉͝S̴̯̽̈ ̸̘̳͋̏͝O̵̮̩̮̻͐̽̃̅Ň̴̡̼͔͙Ę̷̫̹̊͊͐̑

Oh, they will.

After all, they were very H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍.

The sizzling wasn't loud, but the place was so silent as a cemetery that it might as well be as loud as a piece of metal being eaten by magma.

They could hear thoughts. But they weren't from the voice of beyond. It was from their prey.

"You won't hurt the rest…"

A phrase that repeated itself over and over

"You won't hurt the rest…"

Did it refer to the survivor?

The one who they were just about to c̷̪̒̂ó̴̮n̷͇̎̈́s̷̪̓̅u̴̯̮̇̓m̷͔̅͊ͅḛ̷̒ , before getting interrupted by its sniper?

D̸̝̞̍O̴̪̔Ņ̴̹̅ͅ'̴̫̠̝͎̈̆T̵̼̈́̽̏ͅ ̵̠͈̤̞̏T̵̡̳̱̭̒̆̐̎H̴̢̏̾I̵̼͒͜N̶͍̹̔̓Ḱ̶͉̭̹̂͜ ̶̟̰̬̒

D̶̨̾̀̃̚Ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀V̶͚̜̹̾̉̂Ȯ̸̗̒U̵̬͗̃R̶͔̯͑

They focused on completing the process.

The Fallen's adrenaline seemed to have kicked in.

There were no more thoughts to listen to.

Only body language.

A scream.

It was trying to run away.

There were no legs to run away.

It tried to punch its captor.

There were no arms to punch the captor with.

It tried to let out a final message.

"You won't hurt the-"

There was no body to respond to such actions.

It had disintegrated.

It was Silent.

They have done what the voice said.

They left the weapon behind to focus their magic more effectively.

They endured the pain of stabs and shots, felt as their body, no, the V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍ reconstructed their cells, they felt every bullet that entered their body leave every time they D̴̫̦̞͎̓̿̐e̵̟̔̄̒͜͝v̷͖̥͊̀o̶͕͌̃͝u̸̲̇̄̈̃r̴̢̛̮̠͉̈̌̌e̴̪͠d̴̪͓̐̍͠ one of those "aliens".

They unleashed the raw power of the V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍ to save themselves from death.

So, why are they still H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍?

A Shuffle

The guardian snapped their head towards the sound.

The vandal they tried to c̷̪̒̂ó̴̮n̷͇̎̈́s̷̪̓̅u̴̯̮̇̓m̷͔̅͊ͅḛ̷̒.

The one they have Ḿ̶̼̏̓̾ą̶̹̜̦̌r̷̩̄̅́k̷̮͕̆͝e̶͖͕͓͚̚d̶̲͎̱̓͌̕͘.

…

Perhaps one more would S̵͈͐a̸̼̐t̷̓ͅį̸̅š̴̙f̶̭̓y̷͖͋ them.

They went to finish what they've started.

L̵͑͜E̸͚͂A̵̪͊V̸̡͒È̶̠ ̷̠̓T̶̲́H̶̏ͅE̴̪̐M̵̮̈́

Ǹ̸̫O̴͔͝T̴̞̈́ ̵͙̑W̶̧̌O̷̼͒R̶̲̾T̴̨̿Ḧ̸͎́ ̸͈̌I̵̩͝T̸͇͊

L̷̫̈́Ḙ̷́T̸͝ͅ ̷̥̕Ÿ̸̠́Ỏ̴͜U̶̖̽R̷͖̿ ̸̡̑G̵͍͒H̶͈̀O̵̲̓S̴̻̄T̸̬̉ ̵͔̄G̶̮̈́U̶͈͝I̸͕̽D̶͔͝Ḛ̸͐ ̵̝̓Y̷̻̾O̷͚͊U̸͚̒

T̷̤̋Ḣ̴̗E̶̥͑R̴͕̕E̸̞͝ ̸̺̀W̸͕͗I̷̛͇L̷̛͉L̷̠͐ ̴͓͆B̸̠͝E̶͆͜ ̵̦̒M̷̰̓Ö̵̧́R̴̭̃Ē̵̺ ̴̺̆T̵̖̉Ȯ̶̞ ̶̹͛F̴̝͌Ḙ̷͌E̷̼̓D̶̦̀ ̸͖̉O̷̗͛N̶͚͝

"Guardian!" The ghost floated around their head to get their attention. They had witnessed the entire battle, if it could even be called that. "It's done guardian… you got them…" They sounded worried.

They were worried about the poor Fallen, who watched their house get erased.

"I got a message from the vanguard, it said that someone will meet up with us further ahead".

The guardian looked at the machine, no emotion behind that helmet. Then they looked to the fallen, who was cowering behind a small pile of rubbish, with their hands covering the void marks. They seemed to be in pain. And they looked so tempting.

"Guardian, I don't know when another opportunity like this will present itself!" The ghost pleaded. "Please, let's just go to the meeting zone."

L̷̫̈́Ḙ̷́T̸͝ͅ ̷̥̕Ÿ̸̠́Ỏ̴͜U̶̖̽R̷͖̿ ̸̡̑G̵͍͒H̶͈̀O̵̲̓S̴̻̄T̸̬̉ ̵͔̄G̶̮̈́U̶͈͝I̸͕̽D̶͔͝Ḛ̸͐ ̵̝̓Y̷̻̾O̷͚͊U̸͚̒

T̷̤̋Ḣ̴̗E̶̥͑R̴͕̕E̸̞͝ ̸̺̀W̸͕͗I̷̛͇L̷̛͉L̷̠͐ ̴͓͆B̸̠͝E̶͆͜ ̵̦̒M̷̰̓Ö̵̧́R̴̭̃Ē̵̺ ̴̺̆T̵̖̉Ȯ̶̞ ̶̹͛F̴̝͌Ḙ̷͌E̷̼̓D̶̦̀ ̸͖̉O̷̗͛N̶͚͝

…

The guardian walked towards the exit, leaving the fallen to face their nightmares.

The ghost sighed, grateful they finally listened.

The journey here was a nightmare. It had gone from a simple escape plan to leaving the only survivor scarred, both physically and psychologically.

The thing is, with the exception of their special abilities and apparent excitement when killing, this was something that guardians did on the daily…

Find a group of enemies, delete them, continue to the next one.

The ghost wondered if maybe guardians were just other monsters who work for the light…

As the guardian walked away, Fymsel watched them from the back while covering the spots where the void marks burned.

Chapter Text

"Cas? Maeve? Anyone there?" Shaw Han grew more and more desperate as the only thing he was met with was static.

It was supposed to be a simple patrol routine, but his fireteam got separated, and with the hive getting more aggressive, it could only mean that something bad happened to them.

He was pulled out of the comms by the sound of footsteps nearing him.

He quickly spun around, weapon raised, ready to fire at the possible threat and…

"Wait! Don't shoot! We're guardians!"

The familiar static voice from a ghost got Shaw to lower his rifle. Right, he was going to aid a new light and get them to the city.

That was the plan before his fireteam suddenly went quiet.

"Damn, you showed up at a very unfortunate time, buddy."

"We're just trying to get to the city. Do you have any ship to spare?"

The ghost seemed more panicked than the guardian, who merely stared at him. What was it with warlocks and their nerve-wracking stare?

"I'm very sorry. We don't have any available and the vanguard is too occupied with other things, so you'll have to stick around a bit."

The ghost stared sadly to the ground. "For how long?"

"I'm… not sure." An idea sparked in the hunter's head. "Hey, how experienced are you in combat?" He didn't expect much, they didn't even have a weapon. He just wanted someone to watch his back on his search for his teammates.

The guardian stared at him. They haven't spoken a single word since they arrived.

"Uh, enough. I would say they have enough experience." The ghost answered for them.

Shaw looked at them curiously. "Really? You must be very good with your light then! Because, unless I missed it, you don't have a weapon!"

"We uh, lost it… while fighting the Fallen."

Huh, weird.

"Well, lucky for you, I have some weapons I no longer use. You can have them." He pointed towards a stash at his back.

"I'll wait for you at the camp, I'll tell you about my situation there." He said while walking towards the exit.

___________________

"Alright, I know you're not very fond of weapons, but just this once, could you listen to me and grab that SMG? Please?" The ghost didn't expect the warlock to listen to it, but it was worth the try.

The warlock looked at the weapon in question.

The last order the voices gave to them was to follow their ghost.

They waited a bit, in case there was a change of plans.

Silence.

They picked up the weapon.

"Thank you." The ghost somehow managed to let out its breath it didn't even know it holded. "Let's meet up with Shaw Han."

The guardian walked in the direction their ghost pointed at.

________________

"There you are." Shaw greeted. He was staring at a datapad screen that showed some sort of map, but it was blurry. The ghost couldn't make anything out of it. "Sorry it's not a god roll, not even legendary rary-... what the hell am I saying. The point is, it should get the job done. I'll give you more stuff later."

The warlock stared at him in what appeared to be confusion and disappointment, but the helmet made it hard to read their emotions.

"It's enough, and we appreciate it." The ghost broke the ice.

Shaw's tension went back down. "Glad you like it…" Once again the space was filled with uncomfortable silence as he went back to fighting the map. "...Sorry, I'm not familiar with guiding new lights. Maeve has a lot more experience with it, more than I and Cas combined but unfortunately they're both… missing." He said with a hint of worry in his voice.

He seemed to be getting more and more frustrated at the broken map. "Alright, you know what?" He threw the datapad on the table next to him. "How about you come help me shoot some funny Fallen so you can try out your new toy?." The warlock seemed to perk up at this. The ghost trembled a bit. "There seems to be some sort of Fallen blocker that's interfering with the equipment. If we take it down, maybe I could get you to the tower."

"Where is it?" The ghost immediately asked.

"You see that shack? It seems like the interference is coming from there." he pointed at the building. He grabbed the scuffed datapad and put it in his virtual inventory, before pulling out his rifle. "Just let me get my equipment ready and we'll… warlock?"

The guardian was no longer there.

Chapter Text

The guardian blinked their way towards the shack in question.

If the Fallen were there, that meant that sweet S̴̠̟͉͌̚ư̷̘̂̅s̴̭̫͑̎t̴̠̬͂͂ả̸̭̲i̶͙̯̋͝ñ̷͓͠ awaited them.

Three vandals and a servitor were poorly guarding the entrance.

T̵͈͒À̷̧̡Ķ̸͐̃E̸͂̀ͅ ̵͔͙͗O̴̮̕Ǘ̷̯̲T̴̫͂̽ ̴̥̝̐̎T̷̹͖̄H̶̞̽E̵̻͗ ̷̀͐ͅMA̸̫̍̈́C̵̣͊̇Ĥ̶̲İ̴̞͈Ǹ̴̞̗̐Ẻ̸͉̜ ̴͚̔̃F̷̳̒̅Ï̶͉͝Ř̴̞́S̴̻̏̇T̶͓͇̉̌

Before the trio could react, their ether supplier disintegrated out of reality.

A̵͕͚͐I̷̘͌͑M̷̲̅̔ ̵͎͙̃F̵̼̈̎O̷̡͊Ȑ̵͓̀ ̷̢̦̋T̴̢̙̄̍H̸͍̐E̸̞͌̈ ̵̗̰̕H̵͎̃E̴̝͆A̷͚̅́D̶̦͋͆ͅ

They shot their new toy towards their F̶͕̣͗̄o̸̖̬̿͗͐o̸͓͗̊d̸͉̼͛͝, aiming for their heads.

The group didn't have the chance to shoot back, their only response was their dying screeches.

D̶̡̝͊O̴͙̝͑͆W̴̩̠͆N̸̗͐S̵͖̜͋T̸̻̊͌A̸͇̬͝Ȉ̷͉̯Ř̶̲̯͠S̶̱͊

They went downstairs, where they found even more S̴̠̟͉͌̚ư̷̘̂̅s̴̭̫͑̎t̴̠̬͂͂ả̸̭̲i̶͙̯̋͝ñ̷͓͠.

The marauders tried to hide in their cloak, but their glowy eyes betrayed their location. 

Making them easy prey.

The ghost got unwanted flashbacks as the cloaked Eliksni charged at its guardian.

And the cycle repeated once more.

_________________

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Shaw cursed to himself as he rushed downstairs. Why did he have to pull out his whole kit? His rifle was already good enough against a bunch of Fallen!

He only hoped that he would at least be able to reach them before their ghost gets in trouble.

He entered the room, ready to face the body of a dismembered guardian, or something similar.

Only to find the bodies of marauders with holes on their heads.

And there they were, the new light, finishing off a marauder by shooting right into their breather.

Oh thank the Traveler.

"Wow, you surely exceeded my expectations, warlock!" He congratulated with a smile hidden by his helmet. "But…" His tone got more serious. "That was very reckless. I don't want to lose more guardians than I already have. Next time, you'll follow me, ok?"

"Sorry, Shaw." The ghost materialized besides its guardian. "We got a bit too excited."

"Heh, it's alright. I also can't contain my excitement of trying out a new gun."

He trotted towards the console and pulled out the sabotaged pad. Just like he thought, the static was most intensive here, which meant…

"Get back a little bit…"

He threw his gunpowder gamble to the console once his partner got to a safe distance, and shot it.

Scorching solar light exploded outward, melting the console and destroying the blocker installed in it.

A ping from his datapad got his attention.

"There we go."

"Is there nothing else blocking the radios? Can we contact the vanguard?" The ghost asked hurriedly. The warlock staring in apparent hopefulness

Shaw opened his comms, expecting to hear commander Zavala's voice, but was met by the now infuriating buzz of static.

"Fuck! Why is thi-"

"Han! Do you copy!?" 

Cas.

"Cas! I hear you! Are you alright? Where are you? Is Maeve with you!?"

"Thank the Traveler! We need help! The hive keep charging in and there's no end to them!" An acolyte's screech could be heard, confirming the situation they were in. "Maeve is badly wounded and some sort of hive magic is binding our light. Come quick! Before-"

Static.

"Cas? Cas!? I can't lose you yet! What are your-"

Another ping on the pad. A location.

Lunar complex

Shaw stared at the warlock, asking a question without talking.

For once, his partner finally responded to him, in the form of a nod.

"Come! I have a sparrow to spare. It'll be faster than walking."

The duo sprinted upstairs. Or at least, that's what Shaw thought.

_________________

The warlock stopped midway.

A shuffle.

A marauder, with a bullet wound on its back, limping away. Its cloak generator was probably destroyed by the projectile.

The voices told them to follow the hunter for new F̶͕̣͗̄o̸̖̬̿͗͐o̸͓͗̊d̸͉̼͛͝, and they haven't misguided them yet.

But they couldn't let this M̴͓̉è̸̺͚̋ȁ̶̪͂͜l̷̖̖̾͝ go unnoticed.

They'll do their best to finish it quickly.

"Guardian?" Right. Their ghost was still with them. "What are you waiting for? We have to hurry before- oh. Oh no."

They'll have to do their best to finish it quickly.

They quickly put their hands on the wounded prey's cheeks and began the ritual.

Once again, its words whispered into their mind.

Why?

We only wanted shelter.

We only wanted protection.

Why?

The ghost closed its eye. It could hear it too.

"Traveler, what have I done wrong?"

The guardian couldn't hear its pity as screams began to drown its monologue.

It tried to run away.

There were no legs to run.

It tried to grab one of its swords.

There were no arms to grab.

"Warlock! What are you waiting for!?"

There was no body to hear the hunter's call out.

An engram materialized where the prey once was.

G̵͈̮̹̒͆̆R̸̢̯͍̎̕Á̷̗̣̪̃͐B̴̧͍̠̒̂́ Ȋ̴̖Ṫ̶͔̘̚

The warlock grabbed it before turning around and began sprinting towards the exit.

_________________

"This is not the time to admire a new weapon, new light!" The hunter scolded. "I'm blaming it on you if something happens to Cas or Maeve."

"A-at least we have something other than an SMG!" The ghost tried to defend its guardian, hoping that the shakiness of its voice went unnoticed.

Shaw sighed to himself. They were right. Whatever his fireteam was fighting would take more than thirty bullets from a rare primary. At least that fusion rifle would be more useful.

"If we survive this, I'll give you something to stop you from freezing on your tracks when you see something shiny."

"If only they were more interested in guns rather than hunting Eliksni." The ghost thought 

The guardian hopped onto the sparrow and followed Shaw without saying a word, perhaps ashamed of themselves. 

Good. Maybe they learned their lesson.

Chapter Text

Into the Mothyards, over the sea of planes.

The duo traveled quickly towards their destination. A sparrow definitely makes things easier .

"You'll like Maeve, she's also a warlock with a thirst for weapons. She's calm, collected, and also has quite the patience! She could even teach you the basics of the light before going to the city. Just don't get on her bad side, the last titan I've met who messed with her ended up retiring from the crucible!"

The warlock gently nodded. While they still didn't know a lot of this new world, they seemed to be adapting quite easily.

"Cas's a bit more… excited-ish. It might be a bit hard to get used to his bouncy personality, never once have I forgotten the time we fought for who had the better Ahamkara's Spine, but when you adapt to his personality, you'll see that he's a lovely lad."

Shaw continued to speak about his fireteam, introducing the new light about the main experiences someone would have with one.

Trust, laughs, companionship, a fireteam would give you that and many more things. Being alone in a world full of guardians would be asking for infinite boredom. No one would like that.

He would give his everything to save his soulmates.

"Alright, we're here."

Leaving the sparrows behind, the warlock and the hunter entered the Lunar Complex, a desolate, almost sad place to look at.

They couldn't stare and reflect for much longer though, they had some lightbearers to save.

"You haven't had any encounters with the Hive, have you?"

The warlock stared, interested.

"They're a warrior race. Opposite to our friendly scavenger neighbor, the Fallen, the Hive believe that strength is above all. They would give their souls as long as it meant for more conflict, which is kinda what they did."

The warlock stared again, feasting in the knowledge being shared.

Shaw didn't remember the exact story of the Hive, only that they followed some sort of worm gods, that the guardians would then transform into guns to then put away at their vault and leave them to rot. 

Well, maybe if he paid more attention to Maeve's history teachings, he wouldn't be talking out of his butt.

"Speaking of Hive, there's a duo up ahead! I'll take the right-"

But the new light had already leaped towards them.

______________

They took out one with their newly obtained fusion rifle. The Hive disintegrated quickly, opposite to the guardian's signature feast time.

The next one wouldn't be so lucky.

Putting both their hands on where they supposed the acolyte's skull would be, they squeezed hard, raw void energy consuming its fragile body. They had to finish it quickly.

It didn't even have time to form any thoughts as the only thing it managed to do was deliver an ear piercing scream.

Then there was nothing.

"Uh, nice work! C'mon!"

They followed the hunter's sprinting footsteps.

"According to the cords, we're close to their last known location. I'm so close to you, guys, just hold on a little longer…"

He went upstairs, sprinting towards the top so fast he couldn't react to the glowy snack awaiting there.

"TRAVELER'S LIGHT-"

A green explosion lit up the stairs as the hunter got sent flying back down. A crack could be heard when he impacted.

He grunted. "Fuck! Curse those cursed thralls! Argh!" He started coughing, wheezing breaths in between.

His ghost, for the first time since they met him, appeared and started scanning him.

"Yup, some broken bones and a punctured lung. It'll take a bit before you can continue."

"Fuck that! We're so close! Warlock! Kill me and then rez me so that we can continue!"

"Woah woah woah wait! This place's darkness is overwhelming. Much better if you wait and let me heal your wounds than opting for more damage I can handle!"

The hunter stared at the ground, defeated.

"Shit. FINE! Warlock! They're two floors up, my radar still shows Hive activity upstairs so be careful!"

The new light turned and began sprinting upstairs.

____________

"F-fucking hell."

It hurt, a lot. Not just physically, but also emotionally. How many more suicidal enemies will he run into until one of them gets the lucky blow?

It should be him who would save them, he should be running upstairs, burning every cursed thrall he encountered and headshotting every acolyte who dared step in his way. How could he still be this reckless?

"Lamenting from something you didn't know that would happen won't solve anything, Shaw."

"I know, it's just…"

The cursed thrall caught him off guard. What's stopping them from doing the same thing to the new light?

"Have more faith in them. You've only directed them towards an objective and they've solved the issues flawlessly. You haven't even shot a bullet since they arrived!"

Has he?

Damn, the warlock surely has the potential to become the next grand legend, more than what most guardians aspire to be.

More than he could ever dream of.

Speaking of potential…

"Did you saw it?"

The ghost nodded slowly as it continued to stitch lungs and bones back together.

"... I did."

"Not even Maeve can do something like that. Grabbing the head of a Hive and… 'consuming' it?"

"I've never seen void energy treated like that. I know that warlocks can enter this state of 'devour', a feeling of infinite emptiness that gets filled a bit with every kill, but that was something more… sinister…"

Both guardian and ghost agreed that whatever happened wasn't normal, infact, nothing about the new light seemed normal. Empty stares? Barely any form of communication? Hell, even their ghost seemed worried about them.

Perhaps…

"What if that wasn't their first time they've done it?"

"You're proposing that the Fallen who held the blocker…"

"And the ones they faced before meeting us... They didn't lose their gun while fighting them, did they?"

No matter what kind of species one may be, no one deserved that kind of death. Void burn marks slowly consuming your body while you uselessly try to get away? He shuddered at the thought, earning a scold from their ghost.

He would have to interrogate the new light with the help of Maeve once this is over, before sending them to the city.

"Augh! Fuck!" A bone snapped back to place.

"Stay still! I don't want to make another hole in your lung!"

_____________

The Hive screamed as more and more of their brethren fell to the cold clutches of the guardian.

B̷̳̫̃Ṷ̵̐́̋͝R̷̹̼̟̾̒͒N̷̻͈̠͑ ̷̨̥̮̝̿T̸͉̺̦͂̐H̵̖̤̋̇E̸̻̘̘͂̌͝͝M̵̤͓̰̊͒͒

Acolytes tried to aim for their head, only to have their own punctured by bullets before disappearing in a painful blaze.

F̴̻̾̆͋Ḛ̸̗̟̙͂͊̅͐Ǎ̷͓S̸͇̃̂͜T̴̞̫͎͠ ̷̦͎̈́̂͌͆O̵̯͔̒̈́̽̀N̵̨͕̭̂́̈́́ ̶̟̣̓̑̈́͝TH̴̗̘͇̃̾̃͋E̵̢̛̖͉͋͠͝M̶͎̰̪͙̃̽̈͝

Cursed thralls attempted to take the warlock with them, but their explosions were consumed alongside their crunchy chitin.

And within a minute, the second floor was cleared.

U̴͇͑̈́́͝P̸̜̜̦͌S̴̹̯͔͑T̸̘̓̎Ä̷̠̫̯́̆I̵̲̳͎̫͐R̸͈͝S̴͓̠͖̗̐͒̈́

They went upstairs, where more gunshots and screams could be heard.

"Shaw! Thank the Traveler, you arriv-"

Another warlock, sitting against the wall. A ghost on her side trying to stop blood from pouring out of a hole. She greeted them before speaking in a more concerned tone.

"You… you're not Shaw… doesn't matter. Cas is holding them back, go help him!"

The new light ran to the direction of gunshots.

Another hunter, similar to the one who guided them, was fighting an endless wave of Hive all by himself. Jumping, dodging and weaving between them in a dangerous deadly dance.

"Are you the reinforcement? Where's Shaw?" He said while stabbing the skull of an acolyte.

The warlock didn't respond, they just leapt into the mass and began the clear the room alongside the hunter.

No matter how big the horde, no matter how hard their chitin, the new, crunchy F̵̫͈̤͑o̷͓̬̔͊̏o̴̠͖̗̓̅̒́d̵̡͙̱̊ was consumed just as easily as the sweet ether from the Fallen.

The room fell silent.

"Nice work, warlock." The hunter congratulated. "I thought this was it. Is Maeve ok?"

Not waiting for an answer, he sprinted to where the female warlock was healing her wounds.

"Maeve, are you alright?"

"Where's Shaw?"

The question was directed to them.

They stared in response.

The warlock stared back. If looks could kill, that stare would sent them back to the grave with no way back.

Cas took notice of this, and put himself between them. "Alright, alright. Enough you two. Surely he ran into a cursed thrall and sent this guy to replace him. Right? Wait, are you a guy or...?"

They wouldn't be able to answer as a hellish screech deafened the trio.

"We took too long!" The warlock sluggishly got up, wound stitched just enough to stop the blood. "This isn't over yet, new light."

They stared in response.

_____________

"Aaand, there! Try to move around."

Han cautiously got up, just a slight pinch of pain.

"Good enough."

A screech.

His ghost went back into his pocket.

"I hope I'm not too late to the party…"

_____________

"Cas! Watch your back!"

The hunter quickly dodged away from the Knight's sword.

They were getting swarmed, but three guardians were better than two. The original fireteam shredded through their ranks while the voidwalker cleaned out larger enemies and those who dared get too close.

Arc energy chained between targets.

Void strikes emerged from shadows.

And, while uncanny, the duo admitted that the new lights' natural void prowess proved to be more helpful than expected. Maeve still kept an eye on them.

"Doesn't seem like this wave will last any longer!" The hunter called out.

He planted his sword on the last knight that still breathed, silencing it.

"Huff, good job everyone." The warlock said.

"I can't wait to finally get out of this hellhole!" The hunter ran a hand over his forehead, despite his helmet covering his face.

"But before that…" Maeve turned to the new light. "There's something wrong with you, warlock. Come closer, I believe I can help you."

Help?

D̶̡̨̲̂̌͝O̶͙͓̍͑͜N̴͎̓̌̋͜'̸͚͈̪̅T̵̚͜͠ ̷̖̰̭́̽T̶̜̪̺̚̕Ŗ̵̿Ủ̶͖̎S̸̗̲̘͆͗T̴͖̽̔͆ ̷̻̈͛̚H̸̜̘̱̀͠Ë̵̻͗R̵̭̊

The warlock didn't trust her. They took a step back.

"There's nothing to worry about." She took a step forward. "It'll take but a moment. Don't worry." She stretched her hands forward, aiming for their temples. A smooth, almost calm flow of void danced on her arms, stopping right at her fingertips.

S̸͔̭̖̜͆T̴̡͈̫̽͂Ǫ̵̢̻̯̮̋̉̈́̓͠P̵̛̥͈͉̽̒̓ ̴̥͉̦̰͔̋͝H̸͓͚̞̜͖͊̊̉E̶͑͋̕͜Ř̴̬̩̅̅̔

Ouch, that was a bit loud.

Not wanting her to get closer, they shoved their counterpart away, a bit more forcefully than intended, making her trip and fall on the floor.

The hunter intervened. "Hey! I don't know what's happening here but pushing someone like that isn't nice! Maeve is an experienced warlock. If she says she can help you, you better accept her help."

"Don't worry, Cas." She got up slowly, showing that she meant no harm. "Trust me, warlock, this will help you. It should get rid of-"

The female warlock couldn't finish her sentence before a sword bursted out of her chest.

A new wave.

"Guardian down!" Their ghost yelled into their head.

"MAEVE!" 

The hunter ran to her teammate as she dropped dead on the ground.

He gently approached the ghost, ignoring the screams of the knight as the new light took care of them. He forgot everything that happened in the last two minutes, his entire focus on his soulmate.

"D-don't worry, I'll get you back up! J-just have to…"

The ghost looked at him, shaking its head side to side.

A Hive rune materialized from thin air, and from it, another wave of enemies appeared.

"No… No! MONSTERS!"

Blinded by rage, Cas jumped at the horde, Spectral Blades in hand. If he focused on the massacre, he wouldn't have to look at his teammate's body.

Jumping from place to place, a group was dismembered before another met the same fate. The Hive's aim unable to keep up with the teleporting hunter, while also unable to escape his rage.

"I've been fighting your kind for hours! For YEARS! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE IT OUT ALIVE!?"

Hive blood painted the walls, chitin flew and scattered across the room. He continued to stab and slash everything and everyone that got on his way.

The warlock followed suit, throwing grenades left and right; they didn't need a heavy weapon as they only needed their hands to consume bigger prey.

"YOU'VE TAKEN MY HOME! YOU'VE TAKEN MY FRIENDS! I'LL MAKE SURE! THAT YOU ALL! SUFFER!"

Even the warlock stopped midway through the massacre to admire the bloodshed.

The duo mercilessly reap and teared the Hive, one filled with sorrow, the other with hunger.

And the room would have been cleared by a third time if it wasn't for a booming voice so loud that it staggered them.

A̵͍͋̊ͅÑ̸̨̛O̶͒́̾͜T̷̥͆Ĥ̵̼͠E̸̡̪̻̋͋R̶͙̦̊͜

S̴̟̖̐T̸̼́͐̃R̶͕̽͌̐O̵̹̻͗͆͝N̸̰̗̿̄G̸͕̯͖̿̔͒E̸̺̘̱͐R̸̡͆

…what?

What does it mean by-

K̴̪̃̔̓Ị̶͚̜̒͋̅L̸̬̃̓̚L̵͇͈̕ ̸͖̜̃̚T̵͕̞̞͂̔̐H̵̺̀E̸̳͎̔̉̕ ̵̥̓Ẃ̴͉̙͚̈I̸̲̭̪̊͗̇T̸̢͆̿C̴̼̄̉̉H̶̩̆̍

It's loud. So, so loud.

K̴̪̃̔̓Ị̶͚̜̒͋̅L̸̬̃̓̚L̵͇͈̕ ̸͖̜̃̚T̵͕̞̞͂̔̐H̵̺̀E̸̳͎̔̉̕ ̵̥̓Ẃ̴͉̙͚̈I̸̲̭̪̊͗̇T̸̢͆̿C̴̼̄̉̉H̶̩̆̍

Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!

…

Silence.

The warlock looked around them, looking for the hunter.

And they saw him.

His Spectral Blades scattered on the ground. A witch holding him by the neck, squeezing his life out.

Then they heard a crack.

"Guardian down!"

Both of the guardians' ghosts uselessly tried to get their guardians back to life.

The warlock awaited a command from the voices. Defend? Attack? Run?

They needed a command. They needed it! NOW!

…

Ȳ̵̧O̶̬̓Ṵ̵͊ ̶̮̓Ȁ̶̻Ṛ̶̓Ȇ̴̗ ̷̟̈́N̸̟͛Ơ̵̪T̷̻̓Ḫ̸͛Ȉ̸̯N̴͇̍G̵̢̛

Nothing.

The warlock did nothing.

They did nothing as the knight approached them and slashed at them, sending them flying.

Y̸̢̅Ŏ̵̠Ů̸̲ ̸̠̽A̷̐ͅR̸̨͗Ė̷̩ ̵̛̤W̶̳͆Ȏ̷̱R̸̤͝T̵͈̊H̷́͜L̸̩̑E̷̞̒S̸͛͜S̸̭̍ ̸͖̃

They impacted the wall with a thud like the worthless guardian they were.

They could only stare as the witch grabbed both ghosts. They couldn't do anything because they were worthless.

They would be the cause of the destruction of them both, because they were nothing, because they were worthless.

Y̴̦̿Ǫ̷̑Ụ̵͛ ̸̯̃A̸̗͑Ŗ̸̌E̴̹̚ ̶͇͝A̷̱͊ F̷̮̈Ą̶̿I̶̟͂L̶̘̿Ụ̵͛R̵̠̿Ē̶̢

They have failed.

______________

Shaw sprinted upstairs cautiously, ready to meet any other suicidal thrall that never came.

He reached the final floor just in time as two large explosions of raw light blinded him.

Two large explosions of light.

Explosions of light.

"No…"

A witch, Navôta and her brood awaited them.

The new light was slumped at the back, cornered by a sword-wielding knight.

No sign of Cas or Maeve, or their ghosts.

"..."

Shaw pulled out his Golden Gun and fired at every Hive in his vision.

Six bullets in his revolver meant nothing for him as each kill refilled one.

One, two, three, four, five…

He wasn't sure how many there were.

When tears stopped flooding his vision, there were none left.

No sign of Navôta.

The warlock's ghost was treating the wounds of its guardian. Good, one less thing to worry about.

He walked to where the witch used to be, from where the explosions originated, and pulled out his helmet to search more easily.

Kneeling on the ground, he found them.

Shells.

Shells of ghosts.

Shells of ghosts with barely any light left.

"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

The ground soaked with a liquid that for once, wasn't blood.

_______________

Away from sorrow, a houseless vandal finally gets the courage to move on from the empty shell of what once was his family, void marks still burning from the incident.

Where would he go? A houseless Eliksni has nothing to fight for, no ideologies to follow, he could begin a new peaceful life and no one would care, he could be brutally killed and no one would care.

What was left for him to do?

…

Guess it was time for him to find out…

Chapter Text

They were nothing.

They were worthless.

They were a failure.

The mantra repeated itself over and over.

They were nothing.

They were worthless.

They were a failure.

Because of them, the two guardians died.

Because of them, the hunter now has no friends.

Because of them, they failed the only straight forward command.

They were nothing.

They were worthless.

They were a failure.

"Guardian!"

They looked up. The friendly ghost was looking back.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened. You couldn't have known about the powerful enemy that would ambush us." The warlock stayed slumped on the corner.

"I know you're blaming yourself for what happened! It wasn't your fault, you hear? You couldn't have known that another wave would attack so soon, and you definitely couldn't have seen a light-crushing witch joining the fray."

I̴̙̊͒T̵͚͚̉͛ ̵̡͖̂Ĭ̶̘̾S̷̨͍̄ ̸̫̠͒͂L̸̳̟̒̂Y̴͙͆̈́İ̸̗͉N̸̦̝̆͒G̸͉̔͆ ̶̗͚̔͆T̸̗͌̆ͅǑ̶̤̦͑ ̷̼͆Ỳ̷͙̰O̵͙̜͗̊Ṳ̵̧͘͝

It was lying to them.

I̵̤̒T̷͚̭͌ ̴͍̦̀̓S̷͇̾͘E̸͚͇̐͝Č̴̜R̶̦̪̈E̵̪̽̄T̴̘̤̾̆L̸̛͕̘̑Y̴͈͋ ̸̣͙̉B̵̗̄͘L̵̨͝A̷̙̠̔͑M̷͚̆Ê̶̜S̵̙̈́͝ͅ ̵̺̊́Y̶̖̔̚Ö̶̞́̓Ư̷̘̭͝

It secretly blamed them.

But how could it not? They were the reason the duo died, because they were a-.

"GUARDIAN! LOOK AT ME!"

They sluggishly look at the ghost.

"Are you dead!?"

They weren't, but they wish they were.

"Do you still have your light!?"

.̴̡̂.̴̳̄.̶̎͜

They still had it, but they didn't deserve it.

"And I'm still with you! Correct!?"

The ghost was still with them, but-.

"Then that means you're still worthy of the light. Wouldn't I have left you if I thought you were nothing, worthless, a failure!?"

The ghost knew that wasn't how it worked, a ghost is bound to eternity to their guardian, but it hoped to get its guardian out of their self-hate state.

The warlock hesitated, even if they were worthy of the light, they have still failed their abyssal advisor. Without them, they were noth-.

Y̵̩̓O̶̮̅U̸̧̒ ̷̢̇Ĉ̵̯Ȧ̷͎N̶̹͛ ̶̮͂S̶͎̈́T̶̨̈́I̸̲͌L̶͎̇L̸̡̎ ̸̯̆F̵͙̎Ị̵̑N̵̼͂D̶̥͛ ̸̞́R̴̥͝È̸̞D̴͍̉Ḛ̶̐M̷͈̋P̵͓͌T̵̙̾Í̶͈Ǫ̸̀N̸͖͂ ̷̧̉

A new purpose filled their insides. They would find a way to redeem themselves, even if it meant to consume an everlasting wave of Hive and Fallen.

"T-There. See? If you don't want to do it for me, then do it for Shaw."

They started to get up, but were thrown aback by a sharp sting on their side.

"Hang on, I'm still patching you up."

___________

Shaw was still in a kneeling position in front of his family's shells, repeating his mantra of sorrow.

"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

He finally found the strength to continue, collecting the pieces with utmost care as if they were as delicate as porcelain.

"I'll give you the respect you deserve later." He whispered to them. "We have to get out of here first."

He got up and carefully transmitted the pieces into his inventory. Someone else needed a bit of help to get up.

He trotted towards the slumped new light. "Warlock, are you okay?"

They looked at him with… he didn't have the energy to guess anymore, but they both have been hit by a train in the last 10 minutes, so he could make an idea of what they felt.

There was a deep gash on their side, a goodbye gift from the knight that knocked them down. It was getting healed by their ghost, and thank the light that its healing prowess was so good; it would've left a nasty scar if it wasn't the ghost doing the work.

The only thing it failed at was…

"By the light. Did the Traveller run out of materials to make better armor? You're actually just wearing rags." He hoped that his joke would lift both their spirits. It did not.

"I can get them better gear..." 

Shaw turned to his ghost, confused. Last he checked, he didn't collect any warlock armor. The robes get tangled easily with all the tricks he must do, and he definitely hasn't peeked into Maeve's-

Wait.

His ghost wasn't thinking what he was thinking, right?

"I can access Maeve's vault…"

Oh no. NO! THEY WOULD NOT DEFILE THE GEAR OF SOMEONE WHO JUST DIED. HE WOULD NEVER-

"Would you prefer for them to be hit again? Their only protection being these 'rags' that you call them?"

It would mean hitting a new low for him, but they were right. He didn't want to lose any other guardians this day, or in the years to come.

"Sigh, at least… give them rare gear, something that Maeve wouldn't miss." He hoped the warlock wasn't listening, and if they were, that they wouldn't know the meaning of 'rare gear'.

The ghost nodded and transmitted away.

"Alright! Seems like you're good once more!" The remaining ghost said with overexcitement.

"Great. Let's go."

_______________

The duo made it back to the entrance, their sparrows waiting patiently for them.

They looked at the hunter. The ghost hasn't spoken since it healed them and the voice hasn't told them anything, so the hunter was next in their three-person rank list.

"We'll go back to the camp. We'll see if we have any sort of form of communication with the vanguard and if we don't… I'm still trying to figure it out."

Seems like a plan.

(...)

"For fucks sake."

The hunter throwed the pad once more onto the table, defeated. They were in the back of the camp, inside a hole in the wall with various sorts of equipment and sleeping bags.

"I take that you couldn't get it to work?" Their ghost said.

"No! Whatever is causing this interference must have come from the Hive and that witch, Navôta. The blocker we destroyed probably gave it the push it needed to block my comms with the team." He sighed. "I can't contact my ship and I can't report to the vanguard to ask for rescue. We're trapped here."

He flopped unceremoniously on a sleeping bag. The warlock looked to the dirty ground, it seemed like a tempting place to rest for someone like them.

"We've already gone through this." Their ghost whispered into their head.

R̴̡̉E̵̲̊S̷̘̃Ţ̶̆ ̷͔̀I̷̙̊S̵̳͗ ̶̟̎F̸̗̀O̴̳͐R̸̻̋ ̵͇̈T̶͚̒H̷̩̎E̶̚͜ ̷̟̌Ẃ̷̝E̸̟̕A̵̯͒K̷͚̈́ ̸͕́

As if they needed anymore confirmation.

The shelter fell to an uncomfortable silence as one guardian was leaned against the wall and another was slumped on a sleeping bag. The silence extended several minutes as no one knew what to say.

"Hey everyone! I'm back! What did I- oh my." The silence broke by the appearance of the hunter's ghost.

"Whistle, Seems like you guys need a bit of the Christmas's spirit! Here, I brought some gifts for you two, starting with our new friend."

The ghost approached the warlock. From thin air, a helmet, boots, robes, gloves and some sort of bond appeared. All of it got crushed by a mighty rocket launcher that joined the pile. The hunter got up slightly from his resting place, looking bewildered at the pile, more precisely, the rocket launcher.

"And for you, Shaw, mind if we go outside for your present?"

"... Fine." The hunter stood up lazily and walked outside.

The warlock and the ghost were now alone in the room, both of them staring at the pile of 'gifts'.

"Well, I guess it is better than wearing rags." The ghost broke the ice. It transferred the rocket to their vault.

"Don't worry, you won't have to do anything, just stay still."

The warlock stayed still as they felt their helmet get replaced by another. Lighter, but sturdier.

"While this armor might not save you from an explosion, it will certainly come in handy for other, more common damage sources." Their 'robes' changed into something more formal. It now had a proper protection plate.

"But… guardian, if you want to make this gift last, you'll have to stop throwing yourself into the battlefield as if your life meant nothing. As your ghost, I can read your feelings and intentions." It avoided the word 'thoughts'. New gloves tightened their hands in a comfy way. 

"And, while I do admit that I had some troubles in the beginning, I managed to do it before, while I was healing you, while you uhh… yeah, let's not relieve that." A new pair of boots covered their tired feet. They still haven't seated down.

"The point is, guardian, that there's no need to hide anything from me. Whether you wanted it or not, I'm your companion, your soulmate, if you will, and it's my task, given to me by the Traveler, to keep you not only on your feet, but also positive. While I don't know from where these… 'impulses' come from, but I do know when someone is pessimistic or suffering from guilt. It wasn't your fault, guardian, it was Navôta's, and it's our task to avenge Cas and Maeve, if you uhh… want to, of course. Always remember, guardian, that no matter what you do, or how many times you fail, I'll be by your side." The bond wrapped nicely onto their arm.

…

Thank you, ghost.

__________

"I don't remember telling you to grab one of my rocket launchers as a form of present."

"I know, but they seem like they needed some sort of moral boost after what happened. If they actually like guns, I thought it would make the perfect gift."

"Sigh, fine. Where's mine, speaking of which?"

The ghost opened its eye wide. "Oh, right. I… thought you wanted to give them a proper goodbye, Shaw." His ghost gave him his companions' shells.

"... Thanks buddy."

"You… want some time alone?"

"I would appreciate it."

The ghost transmitted away.

The nausea of holding the shells was no longer there, and with the new light being distracted by one of his toys, it was definitely the perfect time for this.

Cas, how times fly by, huh? He still remembers his new light years. He had been risen near the tower, thankfully, but he still thought that at any moment he would die. Cas was wandering by, and he took notice of him strolling with no objective in mind. He approached him, gave him starting gear to begin his road, pointed him towards the tower and left him to his luck. He never had the intention to be a new light's 'guide'.

But he followed. Even when Cas tried harder and harder paths to lose him, Shaw's agility kept up with his. It was admirable for a new light. Cas grew quite the interest because of it, and decided to 'adopt' and train him.

They went through so many adventures and tomfooleries, he still remembers the time they both were stuck at Zavala's office, receiving a lecture from him about 'improper usage of weaponry' when they tried to split a rocket with a sword, accidentally dragging a warlock who accompanied them on the experiment. And if the moment couldn't get any better, Cas proved him wrong by jumping out the window the moment Zavala started talking about 'repairing funds'. Shaw followed him and left the poor warlock to face the commander's new speech.

He wished Cas would've been around when that cursed thrall exploded on his face. The worried tone of his voice before bursting into laughter.

He just wished Cas would still be here.

And who else could this warlock who endured two speeches whole from Zavala be other than the patient Maeve. A few days after their deed, Shaw and Cas encountered the same warlock while on patrol duty. They both stopped dead on their tracks, ready to run the moment she started running at them.

But they were only met by her hearty laugh. A laugh capable of filling someone with joy the second you heard it. She was laughing at their shocked expressions, telling them she meant no harm and that she wasn't mad, that both she and Zavala got a chuckle out of their 'escape plan' and that he called the meeting short.

Maeve had introduced herself afterwards, and oh boy the new adventures they got themselves into. If Shaw and Cas were the gun and the knife of a soldier, Maeve was the one who gave it… something better than a gun and a knife. The times the fireteam got saved by her rational thinking would forever remain unspoken to not put the hunters to shame.

Shaw smiled to himself as he remembered their biggest feat: clearing a, if not the most difficult Hive lair. Many fireteams gave up on trying to clear this place overfilled with sticky goo, but not them, they striked with great coordination and planning, despite their team's report history, and managed to clear the room of Hive and gunk. They were the spotlight of the tower for a while, but they all enjoyed the time while it lasted. Little did they know, the Hive would come back for revenge sooner or later, and it definitely came much sooner than he expected.

Maeve, if you're listening, how did we fuck up so badly?

No, that's not a way to say goodbye.

Cas, Maeve, if you're listening, thank you for all the adventures and laughs you gave me, thank you for the guidance and the knowledge you gave me, and thank you for…

Tears appeared in his eyes once more.

If you're listening, know that that witch will get what she deserves sooner or later, and it most definitely will come much, much sooner.

Gingerly placing the shell pieces on the table, Shaw pulled out a knife and cut two pieces of his cloak. He then started putting the pieces one by one on top of them, Cas' shell on one, Maeve's on another. Now to wrap the fabrics around them and… there. The ritual was complete.

"Better?" His ghost appeared besides him.

"Better." He stores the now relics on his inventory, ready to give them a proper monument when he arrives home.

The ghost nods at him, proudly.

____________

How to find redemption?

How?

What does it want for redemption?

What could it want?

After their ghost's pep talk, the warlock had continuously asked themselves this question, trying to find it an answer. The voice chuckling at the back of their head wasn't helping.

"Hey, don't think about it too hard. I believe the best we can do for Shaw and his fireteam is to take out Navôta, don't you think?"

Take out Navôta.

Take out the witch.

Kill the witch.

How couldn't they have thought about it before?

The voice wants the witch dead.

Y̴̱͐͛E̴̟̰̾͒S̵̟̔

Then they had to kill the witch.

Y̴̱͐͛E̴̟̰̾͒S̵̟̔

That way, they would find the redemption they needed.

Y̴̱͐͛E̴̟̰̾͒S̵̟̔

And after that, they would…

What would they do afterwards?

T̸̢̢͆͠H̷͉̳͆͌Ę̷͉̿ ̸̢͒̃͜T̸̨̘̅O̴͎͌W̸̭͂̌Ȩ̴̚͝Ŗ̴͕̾̈́

The tower?

"Y-yes, in The Tower we'll meet up with someone who I believe can help us."

Ỷ̵͎̂Ō̸̠̙U̸̺̞͂ ̴̡͂͘D̸̥̪̏̀O̷͍͌͝ͅN̷̯͋̌'̸͈̈́T̵̪̈͝ ̸̪̀N̶͕̅͆E̶̝͗͒ͅE̶͕͝D̵̦͠ ̵̝̎͌H̴̦̃ͅE̷͈͒Ḻ̴̰̋P̵̧̈́͠ ̷̥̦͝

Why would they want her help? They didn't need help. Perhaps they needed emotional help?

"Uhhh, sure, let's go with that."

W̴̦͌Ę̵̪͊̓ ̸̻̓͌N̷͍̩͛Ẽ̵̫Ẽ̸̲D̸̘̂͝ ̸̪̥̊T̶̹̣́Ǒ̴͍͑ ̶̲̤͂G̴̖̒E̶̞͋T̷̫͗̏ ̶̘̏S̵̙̏̔T̴̯̫̑̽R̵̢͐Ơ̷͓̂N̵̈̕͜ͅG̷̺͌E̶̤̱̾R̵̰͍͐͠ ̶̨͉̆

They needed to get stronger.

The ghost stared at them in confusion. They could read their mind more easily than before. Ever since the 'experience', more human thoughts could be heard instead of abyssal whispers talking about 'devouring', but these new thoughts still made no sense. It could just be the occasional whispers making it harder to decode it. 

And where the hell was-

"Looking good on that armor, warlock." Shaw greeted.

"Shaw! I was worried you left us."

"I wouldn't leave you alone in a million years. Come, I have a plan…"

____________

Fymsel continued to walk away from the graveyard. There was no one on the field ahead to greet him, only the corpse of a walker. Good, no unnecessary attention.

He walked past the rusting creation, into a building, where once again, there was nothing.

It was unusually quiet.

Then again, that guardian had killed their entire crew on their own, what would stop them from killing a bit more?

He ventured deeper into the building. Still no sign of life, not even a shank. He came across a rotting corpse of a Hive knight. Interesting, the Hive usually hides in darker places, how did it manage to get here?

Must be the increase of Hive in the Cosmodrome. Some stray thralls and acolytes had found their way into his crew's shelter before after all.

Fymsel was getting tired. His void marks still burned.

Chapter Text

A sparrow's propulsor broke the calm atmosphere of the Skywatch.

The warlock had a clear objective in mind, but this was a step they needed to do in order to achieve it.

/////////////

"I suppose I should have told you this before, but you weren't the only reason for our expedition to the Cosmodrome."

///////////

They left the sparrow behind at the entrance of a building. It would only slow them down.

They had to hurry. If this step would get them closer to redemption, they needed not to fail.

/////////////

"Me and my team were searching for a Golden Age relic. A superconductor." The hunter presents them a drawing of it. "It has an absurd amount of energy, almost enough to power a small city."

/////////////

"No need to be so tense, guardian. This is just a simple, calm and peaceful mission. I hope."

E̶̟͋X̵̮͖̣̀̒̕P̶͔̬̀̅Ẻ̵̘̜̽C̴͎͙̑T̸̡̛̳̩̆͠ ̴̞̒̓͝R̷̡̢̦̈́̋̄Ẽ̶̳͚S̶̜̝͍̀͋I̸̛͚̰͕̔̿S̴͙̅T̴̡̤͑̓Ǎ̴͇̐Ń̶͈͙̻͑̇C̴̡̐͛È̵̙͇ ̴͙̄͐

/////////////

"Unfortunately, it appears to be guarded by a wall of raw arc light. Without the ability to phase through it or without protection, it'll remain unreachable."

/////////////

The building was barren. No Fallen or Hive at sight.

They didn't know if they should be grateful or afraid of this.

/////////////

"However, the superconductor's energy is not infinite, which means that we can dissipate the energy…"

/////////////

They made it to the outside. The sight was beautiful.

But they had a goal to achieve. They walked past it.

/////////////

"There's a huge antenna nearby that would need a huge amount of power to activate. If we can connect the conductor to the antenna, and activate other high energy-consuming equipment, then it would be only a matter of time before that wall disappears."

/////////////

"Alright, there's a computer nearby that controls the antenna. Just pull me out and I'll do the rest."

/////////////

"I know the Cosmodrome better, so I'll go around turning on electronics. You will be in charge of the antenna, since there should be a lesser risk of running into some undesiring monsters. But, still," he pulls out a weapon, offering it to them. "Now that you have good close and mid-range offense, take this scout rifle. It's one of my favorites so take good care of it."

The warlock stared at the rare-looking gun before staring back up to the hunter.

"What? I also have some Christmas spirit myself. Besides it's a legendary weapon, has a god roll and-"

They took the gun and sped off before he could come up with more weird words.

/////////////

So that was the plan. Turn on a big antenna. Not even needing to use that 'godly' weapon for anything.

What a disappointment.

_____________

A few minutes after the departure of the warlock and Shaw was still getting ready. He should really organize his inventory better.

That'll be a task for tomorrow him, today… "Ok. What's the closest array of tech we can turn on?"

His ghost materialized beside him. "The shack nearby has a console we can use to- wait, we destroyed that one, didn't we?"

"The one with the blocker? Yeah. Next one?"

"We could try…"

His ghost went silent.

"Hello? Something wrong with your-"

Before he could finish, his ghost shushed him. "Someone is coming, Shaw. Get ready."

A thump.

He pulled out his rifle and carefully approached the shelter's entrance. He could hear someone wheezing outside, as if whatever was out there was… in pain?

He came out of the hideout and quickly aimed his rifle in the direction of whatever could have caused the thump, but quickly put down his rifle when he saw the culprit.

A vandal, lying on the ground, trying and failing to stand up.

But not the usual gun-wielding vandal that would shoot you mercilessly until you fell.

This one didn't even have a gun.

Instead they fashioned not one, but two burn marks. Purple burn marks, forever scarred into their face.

They looked at him with clear fear on their face and put their hands up, weakly chittering something that sounded akin to 'mercy'. Shaw's Eliksni wasn't that great.

But, thankfully for the vandal, Shaw didn't shoot. Why would he? They weren't a threat.

"What do we do with them?" He asked his ghost.

"Him, he's male. I don't know. If he came from The Wall, then it probably has come a long way, and strayed far away from his house too."

"Those marks, are those…?"

The ghost squinted its eye in pity. "Yes, that's void, and it's not showing signs of ever leaving him."

If Shaw didn't pity the vandal before, now he did. He may not like the idea of Eliksni living amongst humanity, but that still didn't mean that anyone should deserve that kind of fate. He won't leave the poor thing to die.

"That's what you want to do? You want to… keep him?"

"Once communication is restored, we'll send him to House Light, and hope that he can recover there."

"Very well. Good luck trying to talk with him. Tell me when you finish." The ghost left the unlikely duo alone.

Shaw looked back at the vandal, he hasn't looked away from the conversation between him and his ghost.

When he noticed the guardian staring back, he quickly put his hands back up again, chittering once more 'mercy'.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Shaw put his weapon away to not scare the poor Fallen. He wasn't sure if he could understand him, but it seemed to calm down a bit.

He kneeled down to his level, trying to earn the marked Eliksni's trust a bit more.

It seemed to work. The vandal lowered his arms. "Help?"

"Yes, I'll… help you."

"Hurts…"

Shaw grimaced at the thought of having his face burnt by void. He knew the pain of getting hit by the projectiles of a Hive shredder, and the burns solar light could inflict. But the two combined? A shudder ran through his spine.

"Sorry, I… can't help you with that, but I can offer you a safe place to rest."

The Fallen looked at him, bewildered. He pointed to himself. A strange word the hunter couldn't understand came from him: "Accept… Fymsel?" Shaw had no idea what 'Fymsel' could mean. Friend maybe?

"That's his name, you idiot." His ghost corrected him.

The hunter nodded, and pointed towards the entrance to his small camp.

The vandal still looked at him in amazement. "Th-thank." He tried to get up, holding himself up by the wall next to him. Shaw followed his example.

He gave a shaky step. The hunter noticed it and helped him by putting an arm under one of the vanda- Fymsel's, guiding him to his very humble abode.

He turned once again to the hunter when he carefully placed him on top of a sleeping bag. It wasn't the comfiest but with how tired he was, any sort of nest would be acceptable.

"Thank."

"Don't mention it." Shaw smiled under his helmet. "You should rest. It's clear you've gone through enough for today."

Fymsel nodded and rested his head on the bag, careful not to smother any of the marks. Shortly after, he started snoring. The Eliksni snore!?

"Aww, that's adorable." His ghost teased silently.

"Shut up." The hunter went outside. He spent way too much time on this.

Too much time.

No sign of the warlock.

Knowing that the Eliksni would be safe, Shaw pulled out his sparrow and sped off way over its limit, in the direction of the antenna. He could see the thermometer of his sparrow going up worryingly fast, but he won't lose another guardian.

_________

The warlock was getting dizzy from all the spinning on the office chair, waiting for the ghost to finish.

"By the Traveler, this Golden Age technology is amazing! Not only can this terminal control the antenna, but it also has information about other planets! Nessus, Mars, the moon…" 

They were about to pull the ghost back into their pocket, calling it quits and letting the hunter do the work when his familiar voice talked through their comms.

"Warlock! What's your status? You've been there for like an hour!"

The ghost gasped in surprise. "Shaw! We're here. It's my fault, I was just messing with the terminal." A few zaps came out of its eye into the equipment. "There! The antenna should be rising outside, take a look."

The warlock went outside. Just like their ghost said, the colossal antenna was rising mightily in front of them. 

"G…uys? Are… you there…?"

Static.

"The antenna is causing interference." The ghost informed. "We'll be in the dark for a bit, don't worry."

Y̴̜̓̕Ơ̵͓Ǘ̴͙ͅ ̷̞̯́̀S̷̮̥͒H̵͖͌O̸͉̞̾U̸̖͇͋͑L̵̪̗̊D̸͙͔̽͂ ̴͎̃W̸̘͝O̶͍̖͝R̵̙̳͝R̸̺̀̈́Ý̷̤̙̎ ̶̧̧̾

A sound akin to chalk being scrapped against the board deafened the warlock.

A black ship appeared from a portal. No explanation was needed to know that it didn't have good intentions.

"Did I hear… Hive ship?... Hang in-"

Static silenced the comms as acolytes, thralls and knights dropped from the ship.

"Oh no. Get ready, guardian!"

Y̵͔̐Ồ̵̘U̴͓̣̒̕ ̸̜̭̿͠W̷͙͐A̷͕͛͒N̴̥͒T̸͎͕̂E̴͙̽̍D̸̹̔ ̸̲͑F̸͎̒U̴͇͐N̷̙͗

G̴̡̦̏͊O̵̮͚͂ ̵̙̮̽͂H̶͖̋Ą̸̅V̸͍̂̋E̶̳̤͗ ̵̢͕̽̓F̴̠̜̄U̵̲͕̔N̶̳͋

The warlock pulled out their new toy. They had ammo to spare on the fusion rifle. Rocket launcher loaded and ready. 

But they probably won't need any of those.

Time to have fun.

_____________

Shaw was sure that his sparrow was going to blow up at any moment, but he still kept his foot on the overclocked booster.

Unwanted flashbacks came back to him.

"Cas? Maeve? Anyone there?"

The only response was static.

What's wrong, o' bearer mine?

"We're surrounded by Hive! Come quick!"

The ship's arrival confirmed his fears.

Memories of past experiences are coming back? O' bearer mine?

"Shaw! Your sparrow!"

Too late.

The sparrow couldn't handle the overclock and exploded in a G̴r̴e̸e̷n̸ orange blast, sending the hunter flying.

Getting reckless, o' bearer mine.

"Sh-shut up."

His recovery was much faster now, now that there was no D̶a̷r̸k̷n̸e̶s̵s̷ to slow it down.

You don't want to fail again, do you? O' bearer mine?

"Shaw? Are you okay?"

His sparrow may have exploded, but he wouldn't need it anymore, he was at the entrance that would lead him to the antenna.

What if you're too late? O' bearer mine? What if the Hive has already taken another light?

"Shut up!"

"Shaw!"

You know you'll no longer be able to have fun with them again, o' bearer mine.

He looked out the window, looking for something that would help him ignore the whispers.

Outside he saw two hunters, both of them jumping from tree to tree, as if playing a game of cat and mouse.

You know you'll no longer be able to speak to them again, o' bearer mine.

He shook his head away from the window, focusing instead on the inside, on the architecture.

In a corner, there was a warlock, holding a book about the Hive, teaching a very uninterested hunter of their history.

You also know, o' bearer mine that, whatever you do, nothing will bring them back.

He stopped his sprint.

Two corpses lying on the ground in front of him. Guardians, a warlock and a hunter, both marked by some sort of Hive rune . Ghosts' shell parts were scattered around them, the same shell parts he kindly wrapped in his cloak's cloth.

You will fail again, you know that, o' bearer mine. Just like you failed Cas and Mae-.

"Shut up. SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

Shaw looked at a crack on the wall. His fist was there, but upon inspecting his arm, there was no Spine there to cover it, no whispers to torment his mind, only a pair of red gloves.

"How about a break, eh? You've also gone through a lot today." His ghost kindly spun around him.

The hunter looked to the ground, no corpses, no Hive runes, no ghosts' shells. It looked so tempting to just lay down there, with no one around, and rest for a while. Maybe when he wakes up, Cas and Maeve would be alright, still on the land of the living, then together, they would all go back to the tower, alongside the new light, present them to Zavala, and then jump out the window of his office together. Maybe they could go practice their jumps, going from tree to tree again. Or listen to another lesson on Hive history and then get head hitted by a book for not paying attention.

Tears threatened to get out. "I… miss them…"

"I know, Shaw."

"Why is it so hard to let go?"

"I… don't know. When this is over, we can go speak to someone like Ikora or Zavala, they should help you get through. But for now, try to stay strong, Cas would've wanted that, and Maeve would've wanted you to guide the new light to the tower, even if they're… a bit crazy."

Shaw chuckled a bit. Yeah, Maeve always had a soft spot for the newly risen. No matter how scared they were of the new world, how bad their aim and unattuned to the light they were, or even how power hungry they were. 

And Cas, oh Cas. You really have helped me in the most difficult of times. I wish you could be here to help me teach that warlock how to rocket jump. That way we could all have a laugh, if the new light even knows how to laugh.

Turns out that loss can't just be surpassed with mere words or reflection. It really is much harder than that. A hard process his fireteam wouldn't be able to help him learn, but maybe, once this is over, he could get proper aid in the city, and maybe start again.

"Step by step, Shaw. Remember, no jumps. step by step."

Yeah, one step at a time. Just like when he was risen, jumping from tree to tree, chasing the elusive Cas, learning the basics of his light.

For now, let's fulfill their wishes. Even if they don't kill Navôta, he would at least complete the wish of Maeve, and Cas would be proud of that.

"There you go, guardian. Stay strong."

No more tears flowed. No more whispers prying his mind. There was now a clear goal in mind. "Thanks, ghost. Let's go save the new light."

_________

Thralls, the cannon fodder, were treated as such.

C̴̜͂ŕ̴̥u̶̟̙͛͗n̷̹̊c̶̛̱̚h̴̜͖̑̊y̴͈͛

s̴̻̭͐̚p̵̛̘̺̌i̶̻̊c̸̢̛͇̈y̵̡͕͊

d̶̛̤ë̵̢͕́͝l̴͖͋i̴̞̔c̴̡̲̈i̸̡̺̋o̴̰̣̒ũ̵̙̘͘s̴̜̐̍

Acolytes and knights alike tried to escape vortex after vortex. None succeeded.

Ḟ̴̠̠̄o̸̮̝̐͐r̴̘͈̍e̸͚̲̔̍v̶̩̊ë̶̼̙́ŗ̵͓͌̍ ̴̆̈ͅt̴̘̩̓r̴̺̒a̸͚̓́p̴̠̎p̸̤̉ê̵͚̆ḋ̵̩̖ ̴͍̚ī̷̳̈́ń̴̫͍̓ ̷̤̲̓t̷̝̋̽h̵̯̯̍͠e̵̲͋ ̵͍̙̀̉i̸̪͎͗̀n̷͕̘̈́͛f̸͚̉̈́͜i̵͚̻̾̒n̸̲͒͌í̸͔̳t̶̺̤͋͒ȩ̶̗̀ ̷̘̃͊a̴͎̺̍͠b̵̨̉̂y̵̧̜͑s̷͕͊͝ś̷̰̈ͅ ̶̲͙͗͋

In a desperate attempt of retaliation, the ship sent a monster to fight off another monster, an ogre cursed to endless pain against a devourer.

T̷̨̳̒h̶̜́è̸͕̊ ̷͖̈́̓b̴͚̭͑ȋ̶̟g̵̗̦̿g̸͓̙͝͠e̸̖͙͆̓r̶͎̂͐ ̷̞̄t̷̡̅͠h̷͔͝e̷̲̠͋y̵͖̔̇ ̴̻̅a̶͔̝͗r̵͈̳͗e̵̼̗͆ ̸̬̘̈

Raw void started focusing in their body.

D̶̰̋̈͂͘Ô̴͓̲͑N̴̡̺̹̹͊̓̍'̵̠͔̿̒T̷̞̬̔ ̶̻͎̉̈́R̴̹̲̪͛͆Ẻ̷̻̻̞̰L̵̘͓̀E̸͔̓̇͛̇Ạ̴͌̕̚̚S̸̻̣͑Ę̴͈̤́̀͝

They held back.

F̷̜̼̽̿̋͠O̵͍̟̪̓́C̶̟̥̥̚U̸͎̮͚͆́̚ͅS̴̨̳̒̓

They retracted their arm. Suddenly it felt as if it was about to explode

Ö̶͖̫́̚B̸͍̻̦̿L̸̐ͅİ̸̺́Ṯ̴̉̓E̸̬̅̏R̶̹̃A̴̞͑T̷̯͋E̴̢͓͆̂ ̶̭̻̐̌̕T̴̝̬͎͑͋̇H̵͗͜͝Ȩ̸̻̇̾̈́ͅM̶̤͋

They released.

Extending their arm forward, a giant purple ball started advancing menacingly towards the ogre.

T̷̤̎h̸͇͐ḙ̷̈ ̷͖͐l̸͆͜o̵̪͠u̷̱̒d̵͍̎e̷̥͗r̷͚̽ ̴̛ͅt̷̫͝h̷͈̄ē̴̼ ̵̗̍b̶̼͘á̴̙ǹ̷̪ģ̴̓

The nova bomb left nothing. No ogre, no acolytes, no knights.

All of it, transformed into purple cinders.

"By the Traveler!"

Once their eyes got accustomed back to the non-purple filter, the warlock saw the hunter coming out of his hiding place. Once again, late to the party. He wasn't wearing the strange fossil on his arms now.

"Remember me to never make you angry. Jeez."

"Hey, Shaw." Their ghost also came out from its hiding place. "You're… a bit late."

"Yeah… I can see that." He pointed to the raised antenna, the main antagonist of this story. "You've been busy, I see."

"You could call it that."

Uncomfortable silence. Seems to be the new meta.

"Welp, how about we go back to the…" The phrase lingered in the air, leading once more to silence between the three.

"... Shaw?"

"Nevermind, let's check out the arc wall right away. No need to go back to the camp."

The warlock didn't complain. The faster they find the witch, the faster they would find redemption.

They started following the hunter back from where they came from.

But they were stopped.

F̷͇́O̷̘̾R̷͖͆G̷̜̔O̵̬͝T̸̲͂ ̷̬̑O̸̥͝N̶̟͆Ẻ̷̦

They heard a wheeze, Hive.

Turns out someone survived.

Hoping to go unnoticed by the hunter, the warlock retraced their steps, and were met by a peculiar someone.

A witch, covered head to… whatever bottom they had in void. It seems it was in pain.

Is this it? Will they finish their quest so soon? Search for redemption, over?

W̸͙̕Ȩ̷̍A̵̭͗K̶͍̓ ̴̡͗O̷̰͋N̸̲͠E̴̤͒

Of course it wouldn't be that easy. This is probably a mere disciple of the Witch.

"So you'll leave her be, right?" The familiar voice of the ghost said, trying to reason with them.

C̷̣̔ͅO̵̼͍͆N̸̛̲̈̿S̵̹͋̓̎Ü̶̲͖̩͌M̷͙̉E̴̮̠̍

H̴͖͗̆́u̸̮̙͆̽͠n̷̮̘̪͑̓ĝ̸̬̲̈́ẹ̶̲̓̃̆r̶̘͑̀ increased tenfold. A primal instinct clawing at their head, begging to be F̵̤̲͗ȇ̴͉̀d̵̩̯̈́̇͗.

They extended their arms towards the void-coated prey. Oh, this… feeling.

They missed it.

"Guardian! Stop! No need to go feral! Just follow Shaw and-"

Ŝ̷̤H̷̲̐Ǘ̸̲͉͒T̴̫̤͌ ̵̮̂̇U̸̙̱͂Ṕ̸̭͙ ̸̗̯̈́M̴͙͓̌̿Ä̴̙̇C̸͚̟̄̚H̷̤͎̾Į̸͓͑N̵̯̏͠E̸̪͎͌

"Wh-wha…?"

C̷̣̔ͅO̵̼͍͆N̸̛̲̈̿S̵̹͋̓̎Ü̶̲͖̩͌M̷͙̉E̴̮̠̍

The witch started screaming.

This… F̸̓͐͜o̷͈͒̾o̶͚̐ḏ̸̞̆, it's different.

It's… invigorating.

NO! 

NO! 

NOT LIKE THIS! 

NOT LIKE THIS!

STOP!

MONSTER!

STOP!

More and more pleads came out of the witch, only hearable to the warlock and their ghost.

"Warlock? You're not checking another gun? Are you?" A clueless hunter only their ghost heard.

The witch's senses seemed to have gone haywire.

She tried to desperately glide away.

She couldn't.

WHY DOESN'T IT WORK!?

She tried to cast a spell. A darkness blast, a poison cloud, ANYTHING! PLEASE!

She couldn't.

She was weak.

Her power would be lended to someone stronger. Someone deserving.

YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!

I'M NAVÔTA'S DISCIPLE!

MY BROOD IS UNKILLABLE!

YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH-

Silence. Sweet, sweet silence.

"Warlock… what…" They felt the worried gaze of a worried hunter at his back.

They took too long.

Chapter Text

Shaw couldn't mutter a word.

He thought the wizard's scream was just the warlock finishing the job. Then they took longer than usual, and Shaw got curious.

He witnessed everything. The wizard trying to get away. Her screaming to no one for help.

And then she was just… gone.

Should he ignore it? He already asked the warlock. No turning back now.

Should he fight? Thinking back to the nuclear nova bomb and the consuming of the witch, he desisted.

Should he run? They know where he stays. Fymsel could also be endangered by this.

Wait.

The Eliksni's marks.

The void marks.

The warlock's expertise with void.

How couldn't he figure it out earlier!?

"Shaw… w-we were just… we heard a noise and… i-it's not what you think!" The warlock's ghost tried to anchor them back to earth.

"You… that wizard… the void. You…" It barely worked. Instead, anger began to build up in him.

The warlock stood their ground, watching him with that empty, creepy stare. At least they weren't trying to eat him. That was a good start.

Right?

I need the Spine back, just in case. And get ready for a quick rez.

I won't turn back now...

____________

A new kind of energy flowed through their veins. It felt much more… scorching than usual.

D̶̙̹̒O̷̟̮͂ ̸̯͑̚Ȳ̶͍̪Ơ̵̰̝̏Ṷ̴̞͐ ̵͚͋Ḛ̵̛̘N̶̦̘̍͝J̸͎̙͆Ó̸̱̀Y̶̡̾ ̸̧̩͂̾I̴̺̕ͅŤ̸̨̍?

M̵͖̈́̈́Y̸̜̣̐ ̵̖̠͆Ġ̶̡Ú̵̹̕A̶̰͉̒̉R̷͚̻͂D̶̟̍͋Ḯ̶̂͜Ă̷͎N̶̙̈́͝?

They would, but…

"Explain to me, right now, what you did to that wizard."

Both ghost and guardian were taken aback by the hunter's sudden change from confusion to aggressiveness. 

The ghost began to formulate a lie. "W-We-"

"No. I don't want to hear it from you." Damn. "Warlock, what did you do to that wizard?" The hunter stared at them. They could feel a knife embedded in their chest.

They wanted to answer. Maybe a slow start, about how they got here and what the void could do. Maybe even talk about the v-

"I know this seems… very bad." Their ghost got ahead of them, ignoring the hunter's targeted redaction. "But-"

"Warlock, What did you do to the Fallen that attacked you when you first rose?" The missing armor-fossil suddenly came back to his arm. Was the skull staring at them?

They dreaded this conversation. The voice stayed silent, it was clear they wouldn't receive assistance from it.

"We… we killed them." A not-so-nice start from their ghost, who still ignored who received the scorching knife.

"Ghost, shut up! I already know that and you know that's not what I'm asking for! Besides, I'm not talking to you!"

Their ghost fell silent.

This was their chance, now they can defend themselves. Only now they realized they haven't spoken since they were raised from the grave. Now seemed like the best place to start.

They opened their mouth to speak and…

And…

Why couldn't they feel their mouth?

Why couldn't they feel their vocal cords?

Why… Why couldn't they feel their body?

"Warlock! What did you do!?"

"They're just-!"

"I'm not talking to you! Warlock, answer me!"

Since when did they lose sense of their body?

H-hello? Can anyone hear me? 

Hunter? 

Ghost?

Anyone?

…

It… It burns.

It burns so much.

It hurts.

Please.

Someone.

Help me.

…

I-is this… how it feels like?

To be c̵̙̆̒ö̴̫́n̴̘̑s̶̺͓͌̂u̷̙̱̅͝m̵͖̦͂͋e̵̯̦͋d̸͖̏͂…?

…

The voice stayed silent.

____________

Shaw could feel his rage raising each second that passed. He trusted the new light to not be like the others. Like those 'guardians' who found pleasure in torturing their enemies.

Of course they would be like the others. When they ran off to the shack full of Eliksni without him, when they… 'consumed' that acolyte at the Lunar Complex, and now this…

The warlock did not even attempt to defend themselves, which further angered Shaw. So they admit to have committed all those atrocities, and had the audacity to say nothing about them?

Figures of Fallen and Hive surrounded the guardian, all begging for the hunter to avenge them, for all the suffering they went through because of the voidwalker. His fear over the warlock was overcomed by anger. He did not care about saving them anymore! They were going to face the consequences for their actions! And their punishment will be seve-!

"Shaw! Look…"

The spectres disappeared along with their chant. The hunter stopped his internal rambling and looked at the warlock. They were shaking, and a lot.

"Hey, you." His ghost caught the attention of the other. "What's happening to them?"

The ghost opened its eye wide before closing it. It then started frantically shaking its shell from side to side. "I… I don't know! Okay? I DON'T KNOW!" It suddenly snapped from all the stress build up in it. Shaw never thought he would see a ghost have a breakdown. 

"I've tried to read their thoughts for so long and they never made sense to me! I just tried and tried but it's like hearing two or three or four people talking at the same time on the phone! I don't know why this is happening! We want to go to the Tower to get help, but with this many inconveniences it makes me think we'll be stuck here forever with my mentally unwell guardian! Is that what you wanted to know!?"

The warlock's shaking seemed to speed up, grabbing both their arms as if they were cold.

Shaw looked at them with other eyes, no more knife that pierced through them like butter over and over. Now he was worried about the warlock, worried about what the hell was going on with them.

Whatever it was, it seemed they also didn't find it pleasant.

A primal instinct suddenly came over him, an instinct that he only felt when his team got into serious trouble. An instinct that came back when the vandal came to his doorstep. He won't leave the poor guardian to suffer with their inner demons.

If he started this whole drama, he needed to fix it.

Pulling out a healing grenade, he gently approached the disturbed new light. They shuffled away into a corner nearby, where it continued to shake, almost convulsing. Their ghost followed their example.

"Here, let me help…"

His ghost approached its sibling with the same gentleness of its guardian, and gave it the blue scan they usually used to heal wounds from their companions. Many times guardians have said to find it very calming.

It hoped it would have the same effect on a ghost.

The machine stopped shaking. It now opened its eye and looked at its sibling with awe, before floating back up and spinning its shell in comfort. His ghost looked back at him and nodded.

Now for the warlock.

He crouched to their level, imitating the process he used with Fymsel, but now with a glowing nade in hand. Well, let's just hope this doesn't scare them.

He remembered the times Maeve has healed both him and Cas this way: instead of throwing the nade at their feet, she gently pushed the orb into their chest. Cas liked to make fun of it, calling it a very 'intimate' way to heal, but it was surprisingly effective, and if the warlock didn't comply, he could always resort to the ol' reliable 'think fast'.

He carefully approached the orb towards the new light, making note of their movements in case he should stop, but their arms still clung firmly to each other, the only thing the warlock did was look away, probably scared.

Alright. Now for the test of fire. One, two…

He pushed the orb into their chest. They squirmed a little but then stopped immediately, so did their convulsions. They looked at their chest before raising their head at them.

Now that they were listening… "We are so close to the end, my friend." He said soothingly. "I'll fight Navôta alone if I must, you can stay here if you want and recover properly." They unfortunately can't go back to the camp. If they were the cause of Fymsel's scars, it would be unbearably awkward for both of them to share the room. "I'll pick you up when I'm done with the witch and we'll both go to the Tower together, alright?"

The warlock nodded. Shaw was convinced that they would stay down and wait for him here, but instead they started to get up.

The hunter also got up. "Want to go with me?"

Another nod.

The hunter smiled and patted their back. The duo started to walk to the exit.

His ghost went back to his pocket before chuckling at him from his helmet. "Damn, first the vandal now the feral-lock? You should consider getting a Cabal war beast!"

Heh. Shut up.

____________

(...)

The sparrow's boosters were the only noise that echoed throughout the Cosmodrome, other than that, it was mostly silent. The warlock, for once, wasn't that comfortable with it, but no words needed to be spoken.

The hunter helped them. Even when they were sure he would leave them to suffer, or even kill them, he helped them come back to themselves. If it weren't for him, they would still be back there at that blood-bathed arena with no blood, either still shaking or preparing for another genocide.

The ghost was… unusually quiet.

"Sorry, it's just… quite a lot to take in. We're so close to the Tower, to the Traveler, to home…"

They wanted to think of a response, but someone else took their word.

"Hey, warlock. About that… power of yours..." The hunter said. Oh no. Did they have to speak about this now?

The hunter turned his head to them. They dreaded whatever comment they were about to hear. Doesn't matter. They deserved to be called a monster, an abomination, a guardian who doesn't deserve their light. After all the atrocities they committed, they deserved it.

However, they did not expect the following comment.

"Don't worry about using it." 

Huh?

"Sure, it's quite… uncomfortable to witness but, if you think it's necessary, then who am I to stop you?" Words the warlock couldn't believe entered through their helmet. "But I will tell you this:" The hunter raised his finger, still not looking at the road. "If you want to… 'consume', make it fast. When we first arrived at the Lunar Complex, I saw you doing your magic to an acolyte much faster than with that wizard." 

The hunter continued to speak, his head still looking at them. "Please, remember that deep inside, the Hive, Fallen and all the other races that you will face later, are still living beings. There are guardians out there who have forgotten this, and… it makes me sick-" 

Suddenly, the hunter disappeared from their vision. The warlock stopped, and turned around to see a hunter lying on the ground, cape covering his head. His sparrow a bit farther away from his landing spot, crashed against a rock with smoke coming out of it.

Did he just…?

Their ghost suddenly burst into laughter.

"Ow. Never taking my eyes off the road again." His comment was muffled by the ground under him before he got up. He sounded surprisingly calm even after literally suffering a vehicle accident. Then again, they both were immortal. His ghost appeared besides him, not even there to heal him. The warlock could hear it laughing out loud.

"What a way to light up the mood, Shaw!" It said.

A different kind of sustain filled the warlock, if they could form a smile, they would. Was this…?

"Happiness?" Their ghost finished. "Yes, guardian, you're feeling happy." They could sense the warm smile behind that eye.

Happy… happiness…

It felt… nice…

R̷̘͔͑Ĕ̵̤̜͉̯̿̈́͝M̵̧̬̹̍̉̇̈E̴̥͒̍M̶̢̓̂̒Ḅ̸̈́̅̋Ę̴̣̐̏R̸̛̻̖͓̺̓̅̑ ̵̞̻̗͊͜͝Y̸̥̺͊͝ͅǪ̷̗̣̽̊̍U̴͍̝̺̝͌R̸̛̥͑̈́ ̷̙͕̞̀̃̈̅ͅG̶̡̪̬̠̓͆͐Ǫ̸̖̼́͂͐͠Ã̸͎̎̋͜͝L̴̑̕͜

Goal?

But… They were happy. Couldn't they enjoy this feeling a bit more-.

K̴̺͙̊͐I̸͕̾L̸͓͚͛͆L̷̲̄̋ ̵͎͍̭̬͌T̵̞̝͑͐̈́H̴̲̍E̴̲̫̜̋́͂ ̸̹͇̓̾̒̅W̵̻̹̱̐͋͠I̶̥̗̩̅́͘T̵͔͔̣̅̇́̎Ç̸̪̀̆͐Ḩ̸́̉͝

They had to k̴̥̀ĩ̵̠l̶̯̆l̵͇̍ ̶̡̔ṱ̸͝h̵̖̏e̸̹͐ ̵̹̀ẅ̸̱́i̸͓͠t̸̙̍c̴̳̈h̵̖̍.

"W-well!" The hunter shook the dust out of him and mounted his damaged sparrow. "After that embarrassing disaster, we should keep going! After all, we have to go hunt us a witch! Isn't that right?"

Yes.

They had a witch to kill.

And once the witch dies…

R̷̢͕̆̒ͅḘ̶̞͚̠̄̅̔D̷͙̳́̒Ȩ̶̣͇̘͗̐͝M̸̡̜̘̄P̷̙̘̉͒̉̀T̶̩̼̀̓͂͠I̵͖͓̱̓O̸̯̱̳̟͛̐̎̎N̸̲͔̂̆͂

Redemption. 

Why did they even want redemption?

Chapter Text

Here they are again.

The Lunar Complex.

This place has had one of the most drastic transformations to Han in the span of a day. From an annoying Hive nest to Shaw's own Hellmouth.

He still remembers everything.

Him hurriedly running upstairs, before meeting a cursed thrall who threw him back down.

A hellish screech that deafened him once he managed to get up.

Navôta, with ghost's shell pieces scattered around her.

And Cas and Maeve…

He must stay strong, for both of them. For the new light.

"Well buddy, are you ready?" He said to them

They nodded.

Good, cuz I'm not.

(...)

Just as he expected, no wall of arc light was there to stop their advance. They continued onwards towards their hard-earned prize.

"Woah woah woah wait." Shaw put a hand out to stop the warlock, the hand didn't bump into anything because the warlock had also stopped.

"That thing right there." He pointed at some sort of massive, green colored snare. "Don't step on those, they'll catch you and keep you there until you shoot your way out-"

The warlock had already shot the trap with their scout rifle, deactivating it. They looked at him, with a stare that somehow spoke a full sentence to him.

Listen, I may be a monster and I may also throw myself into danger without thinking, but you have to be a complete idiot to fall for that obvious trap.

They waltzed through the deactivated snare very slowly. Shaw held his breath expectantly.

Please, oh please be true what I think is about to happen. 

The snare suddenly came back to life and catched the warlock inside its flaming clutches, but despite it, the warlock didn't show any sort of flinch as they slowly turned around, a stare that said anything that didn't need to be said.

That's when the hunter lost it.

____________

Yeah, laugh it up, nurse.

That was all they were thinking as they watched the hunter laughing and wheezing, barely even able to stand. 

"Guardian, your vitals are getting red." Their ghost pulled them back to the real world, hurrying to shoot the cage before being consumed by its flames.

After freeing themselves, they approached their ally on the ground, who was still laughing like a maniac, and crossed their arms in front of them, trying to show as much disappointment and as little embarrassment.

"Oh, Traveler. Forgive me, it's just…" he looked up to the cross-armed warlock staring down at him. Another wheeze came out of him as he lowered his head back to the ground and continued laughing.

"Alright, Shaw." The hunter's ghost said as it materialized. "Remember that our friend here is still a New Light and has recently suffered an existential crisis. Please be nicer to them."

The hunter finally found the strength to get up. "Ok, cough cough, sorry. Let's keep going."

Thank you.

The witch must be killed.

And they didn't think that the Voice would like an unnecessary delay on their mission.

They turned back around to the Void-forsaken trap and shot it once more. They could hear the hunter trying to suppress a laugh as they quickly sprinted over the trap.

"C'mon, guardian, you have to admit, that was a little funny!" Their ghost spoke through their helmet, chuckling a bit.

Yeah, I guess it was.

But they swore to the Void, when they learn how to break these hell spawn traps, the first thing they're gonna do is come back to this exact location, find this exact particular trap, and erase it from existence!

"Hey, uhh, warlock?" They turned to the hunter. "I'm already through, you can- chuckles, you can stop shooting the trap now."

Wait, what?

They turned to the trap and…

Oh yeah, there were about 86 bullet impacts on the surface that the unlit trap used, hehe.

H̷̾ͅO̴̼̅W̸̹̏ ̸̬̎A̵̛͕M̴̦͒Ǔ̶̪Ś̴̤I̸̼̍N̵̗̍G̸̀͜ ̴̒ͅ

Ḇ̸̛U̶̻͌T̸̞͝ ̴̗̿D̴͍̆İ̶͜D̶̹̂Ṋ̷͊'̶͕͋T̶̫̑ ̷̤̈Y̶̬̅O̵̬͠Ụ̷̾ ̷̻̃J̸̖͗U̵͖̎S̵̗̍T̷̥̈́ ̵͓̃Ş̴̄A̵̲͐Y̶̙̽ ̶͔́Y̸̅͜Ô̵̝U̶̝͘ ̸͉̍W̷̑͜A̸͇͠N̴͓͒T̴̪́Ȩ̴̔D̶̖̓ ̵̡̃ T̴͉̆Ơ̴̘ ̴̜̎F̶̛̘Ĩ̸͉N̷̼͋Ḯ̴̞S̴͓͂Ḥ̶͠ ̸͙̐T̸̗̀Ḫ̵̽Į̷̑S̸͕̾ ̴̳̔Q̷͔́U̸͇͐I̷̮̚C̷͓̓K̸̳͛L̵̯͂Y̷̢͒?

They followed the hunter deeper into the nest.

_________

"Alright, it should be right behind this door." Shaw said as he pulled out his ghost to open the door in question.

However the warlock's ghost put itself between him and the console. "Oh! Oh! May I try? Please?" ... Was it trying to do a puppy-eye?

"Uhh, sure, just don't take too long. I don't want to be here more than I need to." He could feel the warlock's disapproving glare on his back.

"Yay!" The ghost said as it turned to the console and started zapping it.

Shaw turned to the guardian. "Look buddy, I'm sorry, but that whoopsie you did deserved a laugh."

The warlock shook their head and found the green, glowy crystals on the ground to be more interesting.

The hunter went to their side, changing to a more gentle tone. "You aren't mad at me for laughing, are you?"

They once again shaked.

"Then, what is it?"

They lifted their hands, a void current flowed over them. Upon closer inspection, Shaw saw that the hands were shaking.

"Hey," He put a comforting palm on their shoulder, noticing the sudden perk up. "I also have a bad feeling about this, but once this is over, the hardest part will be done and we'll both go back to the City, where we'll be able to fix your… unusual powers."

The warlock lowered their hands and looked at Shaw. This stare was… difficult to analyze, hmm.

"Aaand, done!" The duo was popped from their bubble by the loud noise of the door opening up.

"C'mon buddy, one last step."

The warlock nodded.

____________

Huh, they expected the room to be… bigger and… more decorated, but they supposed that, in a complex that has been abandoned for several years, this was as best as it could get. They also made a mental note of the trap inside the room. They shot it, just to be safe.

"Heh, those traps have given you some sort of trauma, it seems." The hunter chuckled.

Yes, and a big one.

"Could we just grab the Superconductor and get out? This place is freaking me out." The ghost chirped in their helmet.

They tried to ask shrugged to show their confusion. Thankfully, the hunter understood it.

"It should be in there." He pointed at the small room at the back of the room.

Seems easy enough.

Way too easy...

The duo trotted to the building, before being forced to retreat as flames of sickly green covered the entrance.

"Navôta!" The hunter called out.

T̸͎̀Ḧ̶̱̗́Į̷͒S̵̾͜ ̶̧̦̾I̶̥̐̚͜S̴̬̈́ ̴͙̖̇̔Ĭ̴͉͝T̸̠̈́͜, M̷͔͆Y̶͎̼͆̚ ̵̡͖̿̎G̴̩̖͂͌U̵̦͗Ą̵̤̈́̈R̵̩̺͝D̷͍̓͘Ǐ̴̥͆A̵͈͎̍Ǹ̶͙̥

R̷͖̩̆E̸̘̾͐Ȁ̷͖̦̊D̸̨̟͗̀Y̶̺̣͛ ̵̳͂̆F̴̫͎̑̋O̶̦͈̓̒R̸͓͂́ ̴̳͊R̶͔͉̾͆E̷͚̚ͅḐ̵̊Ė̶̺̟M̷̙̹̾P̴̝̒̕T̶̝̣̑I̴͓̔Ö̸͔́͂N̵̥͐?

I…

They couldn't finish the thought as the hunter tackled them away from a darkness blast. Both of them on the ground, they heard more of those Hive portals activating, and the shrieks of their passengers followed it.

"You take right, I'll take left. Once the battlefield is clear, we both strike Navôta."

Simple plan, straight to the point, they liked it.

The duo got up, but before the hunter could jump away, they lifted their hand to stop him…

Before shooting the trap on the hunter's side of the battlefield.

"Haha, thanks."

_______________

Acolytes combusted in flames, thralls that dared get too close met his sharp knife, the knight's hard chitin was no match for his powerful arsenal.

If Cas and Maeve were watching, Shaw made sure to give them a spectacle.

Dancing between bullets, claws and explosions, only receiving insignificant cuts or bruises.

A bullet on a knight's head, three acolytes hit by three knives, a horde of thralls melted by gunpowder.

His side was clean.

"How are you doing, warlock?"

Taking a glance over their side…

They just finished… feasting over a knight... 

Now's not the time to be concerned about that.

The warlock gave him a nod, they were also finished, their hands glowing purple.

Pulling out his rocket launcher, the hunter took aim at the damned witch, who only laughed in response to the threat.

This one's for you, guys.

Shaw pulled the trigger and…

He clicked it again.

And again.

And nothing came out of it.

"No. No, not now. Not now! Damnit!"

He remembered loading it! Was it stuck? Vanguard's weapons never get stuck!

Then what-?

"Behind you!" Was all Shaw could hear from his ghost as he was yoinked by his cloak and slammed against the floor.

/////////////

"The cloak?" Shaw asked as the warlock pointed at it. "Oh, it's just… for style, I suppose."

The warlock tilted their head, before making a gesture with their hands: an horizontal palm colliding against a vertical one, before pointing at the cloak.

"Haha. No, it doesn't get in the way or bothers me in any way, and it'll never." He said with a smirk.

/////////////

Well, that aged like milk, didn't it, Shaw?

Raising his head despite the pain, he could see his weapon discarded at his side, the other half of the launcher a bit farther.

The half he tried to shoot with was crushed by a knight's heavy step, before looking down at him threateningly, sword in hand.

"Hey, didn't I kill you before?"

The only response he got was an angry growl.

"I'll take that as a yes."

The knight lifted its sword, ready to split the hunter in half, only for the weapon to get stuck on the floor without hitting anything.

Shaw was on his feet again, away from danger. "So much for a revenant, huh? Don't you know what we, hunters, are good for?" 

The knight just stared at him, amused.

Did he just…?

The green flames of the trap sprung to life and snared him inside. He rolled right into the trap. If his old fireteam would've been here, they would be laughing at him like maniacs.

It's alright, just pull out your rifle and shoot-

The knight's sword made him reconsider his actions by breaking yet another of his weapons.

Getting out by breaking the cell with his bare hands would be unwise too; there were thralls ready to rip him apart and Hive shredders ready to mangle him if he managed to get out.

"Warlock! Are you busy!?" He didn't like asking for help, but what else could he do?

The warlock had been fighting Navôta all by themselves while Shaw had his small quarrel. They seem to have left their weapon behind and instead opted for fighting the witch head on, ignoring the poison clouds like a stubborn titan and deftly dodging darkness blasts like a slippery hunter.

Despite their apparent concentration, they took a glance at his detained status.

"Laugh later! Come help me!"

That was Shaw's biggest mistake.

The warlock lost all focus, they forgot about the danger at their side and gave themselves a big red target on their back for Navôta.

The hunter saw his friend getting peppered by blast after blast, hearing the familiar sound of glass shattering, the warlock uselessly trying to not fall before giving up completely.

Then Shaw and the Hive got a first row seat to watch the show unfold.

_______________

Failure.

Useless.

Unworthy.

They swore this would never happen again, yet it did.

Here they are again, on the ground, about to meet the same fate of the guardians they let down.

They knew they should've prioritized the trap, that's what got them here, right?

B-but! Maybe the voice would give them the surge they needed to escape this! Right!?

.̴̱͕̔.̴̨̖̅̎.̷̋̅͜

R-right…?

"H-hold strong, guardian. I'm prepping something to get us out of here." Their ghost, they never realized how comforting its voice was. If the Voice wouldn't act, then they'll hold strong for the small machine.

They felt themselves being picked up by an invisible force, giving them a small glance at the hunter trapped in the snare. If they could, they would laugh.

They lost sight of their friend as they were turned around, meeting a very… ugly would be an understatement, hehe.

WHAT'S SO AMUSING, GUARDIAN?

A voice in my head is already loud enough, please be more quiet.

HMM, DEFIANT EVEN ON YOUR LOWEST, HUH?

"Guardian? Are you… speaking with her?"

YOUR KIND IS VERY… HOW WOULD YOU CALL IT? …INTERESTING, I SUPPOSE.

In what sense? I've only met three of them, two of them I barely got to know, and the one that's still alive just fell into the most obvious of traps.

AH, YES, THE OTHER HUNTER WAS QUITE… VOLATILE. ONE MOMENT HE WOULDN'T DARE HURT A FLY, THE OTHER… WELL, YOU WERE THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED, DIDN'T YOU?

Oh yeah. You looked pretty mad when you realized that most of your brood had been deleted by us.

AND THE WARLOCK, SHE WAS POWERFUL, BUT SHE HAD HER LIMITS, LIMITS THAT YOU DON'T HAVE.

… Where is this going?

Ghost, hurry up.

"I'm trying! Keep her distracted!"

YOUR LITTLE MACHINE WON'T HELP YOU.

AS FOR WHAT I HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU… WELL, YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT YOU TOOK WITHOUT PERMISSION.

… Huh?

MY SECOND IN COMMAND, I REALLY LIKED HER. SHE WAS POWERFUL, BUT A CERTAIN SOMEONE TOOK HER POWER WITHOUT ASKING.

"J-just a little more!"

I MISS HER. BUT WITH YOU HERE…

The invisible force drawed the warlock closer to the witch.

YES, YOU'LL MAKE A FINE WIZARD.

What!?

I THOUGHT YOU LIKED POWER. THE HIVE WILL GLADLY GIVE YOU MORE

Ghost? Is that 'something' ready?

"Uhh, in a sec! Try to antagonize her more! Or confuse her! I don't know! Just say anything-guh!"

Looking at their chest, they wish they hadn't as the hand of the witch dug and searched for something. It didn't hurt, for now at least.

INTERESTING.

ITS HOLLOW.

Before they could process the statement, her hand was pulled back, with their little companion caught in it.

"L-let me go, you witch!"

She ignored the plea.

NOW NOW. NO NEED TO GET SO DRAMATIC.

SO, HOW EXACTLY DOES THIS WORK? DO I JUST…?

She started squeezing it. Each squeeze tighter than the other. It hurt, a lot.

Stop! STOP!

W̶̫̉̇H̵̛͉͈̎A̸͕̅͌Ţ̷̯̿̏ ̸̝̉̀͜A̷̠̽̋ ̶̨͠S̵͚͑P̶̧͋Ȩ̸͍̕C̷̟̺̈́T̴͉͚̃A̴̓̌ͅC̵̱̦̄L̵͚̳̐̓É̴̫ ̷̦̃

Y̶̠͒ͅÒ̷͓̮Ǔ̴̞̫̿R̵̔ͅ ̸̩̮̇̀P̵̥̌͗U̸̒ͅǸ̶̢͝I̶̦͎̕S̵̮̺̈́̔H̸̝̔M̷̨͉͗Ē̴̬͕N̴̝͖̐T̶̛͈̾ ̵̞̃I̶͉̔̑S̴͖͓̓̚ ̸̳̽O̷̮̦͌͒V̴͚͌E̸̼̗͆̓R̶̘̀

D̴̟̠̉Ŏ̷̠̝ ̴͈̈́W̵͉̄̋H̵͇͆A̴͍̽̏T̶̛̘ ̵̐̕͜Ỳ̸̪͙͂O̷̞̍U̷̢̯̓̾ ̸̙̏̈́D̸̠͓̀Õ̶̖̽ ̵̧̎B̷̟̒̽E̴͖̾S̸̯̈́̔Ṱ̸̽

The warlock felt as if they were implanted with a superconductor, one filled with void energy instead of arc. Their whole body covered in radioactive purple, and the witch watching them in amazement, ghost still in hand. They only had one message to send:

You fucked up.

They formed a volatile ball of raw void power on their hands, ready to explode the witch to ashes-.

H̶̱̘̔͒Ỏ̴͙L̴̮̟̓D̸̬̙͂̆

Despite their shaking hands, they held.

F̶͖̔O̸̟̗͐͝C̶͍̀̚U̵̞̙͂̿S̸̨͒̕

They focused the ball, transforming it into something else…

They could hear the screams of the Hive as they were dragged to them, like how a black hole siphons even the light. The witch, however, remained still.

Ř̵̜̂Ȩ̶͕̯̼̗̙̓͂̅̌L̸͎̘̖̮̓͗̒͜E̸̘̲͔͗̾̃̓͠A̴̘̰͇̩̽Ś̸̞̄̅̈́͗̄Ę̷̩̗́̒̑̈

They felt their entire being combust, they thought they had imploded themselves with it, as they felt nothing after.

But, upon coming back to their senses, they found out they were still in one piece.

And so was the witch.

Ğ̸̬̘È̶̢͇͒̇̅Ţ̶̹̲͋͂̍̾ ̴̧̟͍̞̯̭̈́̊͠͠M̵͖̭̍̈́̽E̴̡̠̦̮͕̍̎̎́͜ ̵̣̦̩̎̉̇C̴̥̃̐Ḻ̶̭͖̦̘̽͌̕Ở̸̧͔͔̞̭̓̏̈́͠S̶̢̪̈́̍E̵͇̭̺̩̎̿̀̌͂̈́͜R̶̰̖͌̌͌́̍͛

They approached the witch, staring at her directly in the eyes. She was coughing.

YES, YOU WOULD'VE MADE A PERFECT WIZARD.

You, ABSOLUTE BI-!

Q̷̛̲̺͉̼͋̕ͅÚ̶̼̚I̵̖̼͕̖̹̳̅̏͂̋Ḛ̶̳̌̐̂͠T̵̘͙̲̎͌͌

HA… HA. JUST WHEN YOU THINK SOMEONE RAN OUT OF SURPRISES, THEY COME OUT WITH SOMETHING ELSE. ISN'T IT FUNNY?

A̶̧̫̤͠R̸͎̦̬̍̌͆Ȅ̷̻͕̘̈ ̸̺̩̓̌̋Ỷ̸̻͎̑O̴̬̜̒̐Ű̵̺̙̥ ̴̯̜͓͐̈F̸̗͑A̵͎̰̍͊̄M̸͈̱̋Į̴̺̀̽̌Ḷ̶̓̽͝Ì̶̼̯Ă̸̪̜̚͜͠R̴͕̄́ ̷̨͉͛͘W̴̨͗̎̾I̷̧̻͒̚T̵̢̮͗̆̀H̴̡̙̿́͌ ̴͖̋̎́ͅT̸̟͘Ḩ̴̰̩́̑̈E̴͖͆ ̶̱̟́͂̂Ș̶̗̈́͑̌ͅW̷̠̒Ō̶̖̺̞R̵̨̽͝D̶̦̬̀̊ ̶̡̎͒̾͜Ĺ̷͙͠Ọ̵̧͔̈͐͊G̷̲̦͇̓̅I̶̒̆͜C̴̡̳͋̾ ̵̘̹̒?

A cough.

OF COURSE I AM.

T̵͈̉H̴̕ͅE̸̘̚N̷̪̐ ̵̲̿Ỉ̸̖ ̶̗͝B̶̖̂Ẽ̸̩L̶͓̕I̵̩͊E̵̲̓V̷̩̀Ě̷͔ ̶̲̌Ý̵͚O̴̞͛U̷̮̓ ̴̮͒W̵̢͂I̴̠̕L̵̰̚L̸̻̄ ̵̜͆E̷̜͋N̴̩̋J̶̼̒Ö̵̹́Ŷ̷̢ ̴̡̏W̶̞̕Ḩ̸͐Ả̶̝Ṭ̴̋ ̴̖̕H̶̥̽Ä̸̠́P̸̼̂P̴̭͌E̶̹̍N̴̼̓S̸͚̄ ̶͖̈́N̷͖̈E̷̬͠Ẍ̸̖́Ť̵͙

Hunger.

So much h̸̦̄u̷̠͊n̷͈͠g̵͑ͅe̶̦͗r̸͙͝.

They needed š̴̬u̸͍͝s̸͚̎t̴̙͒ă̴͔i̷̳̍ṇ̶͊.

They needed to f̵̥̒e̵͇͝e̶̦̓d̵͈̄ ̵̘̆t̵̬͊h̷̺͠ě̸̮ ̵̮͠v̴̜̎ò̴͜ḯ̵̜ď̶͕.

They'll f̸̲̉e̵̖̿ę̸̈ḋ̵͖ it the witch.

The witch was powerful.

But that power is wasted on her.

That power would suit them much more.

Like they've done before, they put their hands on the witch's temples. They will e̶̝̅͜n̸͓̥͋̕j̷͕̃͆ȍ̵̦͎̾y̵̡̧͝ ̸͚̬̔̍t̸̛͓̕h̴̹̉ï̵̠̟̔s̸͔͚̍.

YOU GUARDIANS ARE ALL THE SAME.

YOU KILL FOR JOY AND DISRESPECT YOUR ENEMIES JUST FOR POWER AND LAUGHS.

Her insults fell to deaf ears.

YOU KILL ME, SOMEONE ELSE TAKES MY PLACE.

AND THEY'LL SHOW NO MERCY TO YOU.

Her threats weren't loud enough to hear.

P-PLEASE, MY BROOD WILL DIE WITHOUT ME.

PLEASE LET ME LIVE. I WON'T HUNT ANYMORE GUARDIANS. WE'LL BECOME NEUTRAL.

PLEASE.

PLEASE!

A shriek deafened the arena, but no one heard her pleas.

YOU WON'T WIN THE BATTLE TO COME.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING YOURSELF INTO.

D̷̞̂o yơ̶̭u ev̶̘̈er̴͎͌ S̶̡̛HÚ̸̡T̸̟̿ U̶͇̓P!?

REMEMBER MY WORDS.

WHAT YOU BELIEVE WILL SATIATE YOUR HUNGER, WILL ONLY PROLONG IT.

AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS,

NO ONE WILL BE SAFE FROM YOU.

MONSTER.

…

No more witch.

C̶͇̻͌͑̌Ó̵̘͓̭N̵̛̮͇͆G̴̱̾̀̀R̴̬̙̂A̸̜̬̻̋͒T̵̢̯͙̾͋U̴̳̐́͗Ḽ̶̤́͘A̷̯͂̾́T̶̨̗͂̂̚I̸͔͋̃̔O̴̗̅N̶͎̙͍͋͋S̸̱̰̄ ̶͈̅M̶͈͖̋Y̶̼̥̹͌̔ ̷͎͔̝̉͊Ḡ̷͉̱U̴͈͙̅̅ͅA̶̪̰̓̈Ŕ̴͈D̵̤̗͋I̶̥͒̈́̓Â̴͖͍͈N̴̦̘͎̓

Ý̴̺Ǒ̷̬Ṷ̵͊R̴͙̂ ̵̹͐M̵̹̈́I̷̫̒S̷̪̐T̵̨̾A̵͕͊K̵̦̋È̶̘S̷̱̚ ̸̰͊A̴͔̚R̶͇̀E̷̥͘ ̵͍̌F̸͎̃O̸͙͐R̷͚̔G̵͖̏Ì̵̱V̷͔͑Ȅ̸̢N̵̨̓

H̷̪́Ǫ̵́W̵̘̿ ̷̣͒Ḍ̶̾Ȏ̴̭ ̴̟̐Ỹ̵̩Ǒ̸̥Ủ̵̝ ̶͖̉F̷͉͒E̷̪͂Ê̵̼L̴̪̂?

…

It burns.

Can you… lessen the pain?

.̸͍̓.̶͓̋.̸̬͆

"Here, guardian." Their ghost began shining its light on them. Now it felt like a mild fever. "You did what you had to do, don't worry."

Thank… thank you.

…

Why?

"What's wrong?"

Why do you still heal me? Why do you still grant me the light? Why don't you just leave me for dead?

I'm a monster, and you know that. I know you're afraid of me, that something is wrong with me and that makes me a menace to all living things, and that I would be much better as a rotting corpse. So… why?

Why haven't you just abandoned me?

"..."

I have a gun, you know? I'll just… shoot myself with it, and then you can leave me. I'll no longer be a bother, I'll just… disappear and join the souls I've taken these days, and you and Shaw can get your happy end-.

"Stop. Listen to yourself. I know you aren't familiar with emotions, so I'll just tell you right away:

You're feeling regret, you're also feeling scared, but not of what's to come, but rather what you've become. 

I may not have known her in depth, but I can definitely tell that Navôta did not regret killing Cas and Maeve. You call yourself a monster. Navôta called you a monster, but monsters don't feel regret, I'm sure of that.

I haven't abandoned you because you are my guardian, and I'm your ghost. Not only do we carry the light to empower our guardians, but we also do our best to keep them on the right track. 

As your ghost, I'm sure I'll be able to help you get rid of whatever's infecting your mind, and I assure you, I'll never leave your side, no matter how many enemies you devour."

…

"But, do try to keep it to a minimum, will ya?"

…

…haha.

Sure, thanks.

"Anytime, guardian."

"Hey, sorry for interrupting the moment, but we still have a mission to take care of." The voice of a trapped hunter called them.

"Mind shooting this stupid, piece of junk, good for nothing-"

They destroyed the trap with a bullet.

"Thanks." The hunter trotted to them. "Now, I didn't just stand by and watch as you created a pocket-sized black hole, devoured a whole witch and became a third wheel for nothing. Let's get our reward." He pointed at the arc-powered generator inside the shelter.

______________

Well, Shaw could say it was a successful mission; they got the superconductor and killed a high-priority Hive wizard in the process.

Two guardians down, though, and important ones too. He'll honor them properly when they get to the tower.

Ah, the sparrow's sweet sound of their boosters, nothing better than a relaxing trip back to their camp with no one to disturb them.

Sure they could just get his ship and carry the new light to the tower, but he wanted to say goodbye to his camp first.

"Hmmm."

"Something bothering you, Shaw?" His ghost asked.

"It's just, why do I have the feeling that I'm forgetting something?"

Chapter Text

"I can't wait to show you everyone! Commander Zavala, Ikora Rey and the Traveler!" Ever since they left the Complex, their ghost had been going non-stop at its dialogue.

The Last City, huh? They'll need to find a way to catch up with everything that has happened. The ghost speaks way too jolly about the fact that most of humanity has been wiped, but oh well, it's the price to pay for cool powers, they guessed.

If only the 'cool powers' they got could've been a bit more tame.

"And what about you, Shaw? What will you do once we arrive in the city?"

"..." The hunter kept his eyes on the road. They hoped he didn't need to look at them to talk, they still remember how that turned out.

"Shaw?"

"Eh?" They finally got his attention, and thankfully he didn't turn away from the road. "Sorry, I keep thinking that I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what."

"I'm sure it'll come eventually, and if you forgot it, then it probably wasn't even important!"

"Hmm…"

(...)

Crossing the entire Mothyards while riding a sparrow had never felt so calming until now. 

What could go wrong? The witch is c̴͈̚ő̶̯̚n̸̨̽̾s̴̪̻̕u̴͉̖͋m̴̞̬̒e̸͔͝d̴̙̎ dead, and they'll soon go to the Tower to find… help… 

…right…

"Everything good there, guardian?" 

It's probably just the fever hitting again, or the hole on my chest is probably reopening.

"Uhh…" they felt an internal scan running over their body. It felt… surprisingly pleasant. "The hole is sealed shut, probably because of the… devour thing, but… weird, your temperature is still abnormally high. It's almost as if you're… burning."

… Welp, that's yet another reason to visit the Tower. Do we have a doctor for guardians?

"Haha, that would be us, ghosts."

You're terrible at your job then.

"Wah-!? Don't blame me! You're my first guardian, y'know!"

They let out an internal chuckle, despite the painful hellfire going on in their head.

If only they would've put the pieces together sooner…

_____________

"Ah, there it is." Shaw stopped his sparrow on the top of a hill, getting a nice view of the camp, the fact that it still remained hidden from unwanted eyes was really surprising. The warlock stopped by his side, also admiring the view. 

"We've come quite the long way, huh warlock?" He shot a glance to his partner, who looked back at him with their iconic, silent stare. "How does it feel to know that you'll soon be on the Tower?"

Of course, the warlock didn't answer. The question was mostly directed to their ghost, who gladly made itself visible.

"It's… nice to know that our adventure will soon come to an end. We've gone through so much in such little time that we would welcome with open arms a little rest." It said. "But, I hope that we get to work with you more, Shaw. You helped us get out of here in the first place, it would be impolite to not return the favor. I feel like we'd make a good fireteam!"

The warlock tapped their ghost to get its attention, before opening a palm from where void energy danced and flowed quite… aggressively. Was the purple always that bright?

"O-of course! Once we get permission to work with you after checking our… condition."

Shaw smiled fondly at that, even if he knew that the smile was covered by his helmet. Getting to work with the warlock again, training them, showing them the ropes of being a guardian… yeah, that sounds nice, something that the gals would approve. 

Just don't lose this one, o' bearer mine.

Not even the damned Spine could sour the moment. He was at peace with his internal demons for now, and he planned on making it permanent. 

"I'm looking forward to that! You would be the envy of many warlocks, my friend! With or without condition!" He said excitedly before motioning his head to the camp. "C'mon, buddy! Let's get you to the Tower once and for all!" His sparrow boosted itself forward, the warlock following closely behind.

Shaw also couldn't wait to show them the Tower! All the cool places and people, like the Ramen shop or Commander Zavala, perhaps even show them the Eliksni distri-.

Oh. 

Oh no.

"Oh no indeed." His ghost whispered. 

Quick! Before they arrive at the camp-!

They were already there. The warlock had already dismounted and was making their way to the shelter. 

His ghost appeared besides him. "Tell em' that you have a surprise gift or something-!" 

The scarred Eliksni popped out of the shelter to see what all the noise was about. 

The warlock and the vandal exchanged glances, the former indifferent as always, but the latter opened his eyes wide, grazing his void marks before rushing back inside.

The hunter took a deep breath.

"Alright, Shaw, you can do this."

"Hey, warlock." Shaw gently put a hand on his partner's shoulder. Surely this can have a peaceful outcome! "I'd appreciate it a lot if you waited outside, please. I'll handle it-." 

But they simply dismissed the hand and began their approach towards the entrance. The glance he managed to catch sent no message, only emptiness. Shaw knew what this meant.

He quickly followed behind. He hoped this could still be salvageable. "Warlock! He's a friend, you hear?! That means don't eat him! I'll deal with him, you just wait here!"

The warlock continued their march, as if they hadn't heard him.

It appears that you're losing control of the situation, o' bearer mine. 

"Okay, that's it.

It's time to wake you up."

The hunter planted himself in front of his friend, getting them to stop.

Now to try and bring them back to their senses.

"I know what you're thinking of, we've gone through enough together for me to learn when you're about to enter your feral mode." Traveler, why do you keep looking at me like that!? "But I'm still sure that you're still there, that you can hear my voice. Whatever is in you, you can control it. You've done it before, you can do it again."

The warlock seemed to slightly tilt their head at this. Maybe he actually got their attention. "Fymsel may be an Eliksni, or a Fallen, or whatever you want to call him, but he's no enemy." Just thinking of losing Fymsel sent chills down his human spine. In his eyes, the Eliksni was also a new light, powerless, but reborn from a catastrophe nonetheless. "He's the one that survived your onslaught when you first rose, right? No one will be hurt if you do it again." 

The stare kept itself unreadable, Shaw began to think he was never able to read them in the first place. "Please," His tone got a slight hint of melancholy. "Don't make me put you down." He pulled out his knife, making sure it shined with solar light to send the message.

The warlock stared in response. The warlocks always had the scariest stare, especially if it was a Voidwalker.

Shaw's senses were on edge, ready to dodge, attack, block or run if needed, but he won't let Fymsel die or leave the warlock in this sort of taken state.

He won't lose anymore friends.

____________

They listened to their friend's words carefully, also eyeing the threatening fiery knife worriedly.

Why are they doing this? The mission is over, there's no need to fight anymore, no need to devour anything else, especially the Fallen they've marked, who didn't pose any threat and probably wouldn't even be filling. Why did they let it live again?

N̸̗̐Ǫ̷̀W̷̱͝'̷̜̂̎S̵͎̽͘ ̶̝̇͠N̴͓̉̒O̵̗̳͋Ť̸͕̊ ̶̪̦̎̅T̵̻̉H̶̬̫͐Ę̸̆͜ ̵̣̣̓͋T̵̫̚͠I̵̠͒̓M̴̠̈́̆Ȩ̴̲̎ ̷͛̋͜F̷̝̈́Ȯ̷̘͝Ȑ̸̫͠ ̵̼̌̚Q̵̧͍̇̋Ũ̶͔͝E̸͓̽S̸̪̚̕T̸̻̆͛I̶̻͇͠Ơ̷̡̡̍N̸̛̞̱͑S̷͙̅͒

Their hearing was suddenly blocked. They didn't feel any pain, but now they could only hear the mumbles of both the hunter's explanations and their ghost trying to speak some sense to them.

They felt… empty, lost.

There was no one to guide them.

Only the Voice.

T̵̢͓̓H̷̛̤E̷̼͗̍ ̵̯̭͆͊H̶̦̍Ų̸̯̊̓N̷̰̝̈T̵̄̇͜E̴̦͔̊̀Ŕ̴͓̳͠ ̴̤͉͛̎Ĉ̸̫H̶̝̋͜A̷̘̹͆̔Ḷ̶̑L̸͙̀̍E̶̪̯̒͑N̵̺̤͒G̶̘͊Ĕ̶̻͋S̵̫͇̐ ̴̳͙̃̍Y̴͔̋Ǫ̶̛̫́Ů̶͎̘́

H̵̤̏Ȅ̵̡'̸̻̀S̴̥͋ ̵̪͌S̵͍̓T̶̜̉A̷̦̔Ñ̸̯D̸̲͐Ị̶͛N̷͖̎G̸̯̽ ̷̟̀B̵͈̔E̷͜͝T̸̊͜W̴̝͛É̷͔E̴̦̚N̶̬͊ ̷̗̔Y̸̫̍O̴͔͗U̵̪̐ ̴̘͌Å̴͕N̷̛͔D̵̼̂ ̶̞́Ȳ̴̧Ȏ̴̤Ū̷͖R̵̢̂ ̶̦̓Ġ̶̢Ǒ̷̝Ä̷̜L̷̢̆

H̴̬͗͝Ȏ̴͚W̷͔̅ ̷̢̅͠Ẃ̵̬͚̑Ī̷̼͜L̵̟̒L̸͇̔ ̶͈̉͜Y̶̠͛̐O̶̟̖̊̉U̷̱̝͛ ̶̖̆À̴͎́C̸̝͖̋̊Ṯ̴͙̃͝?

…

What!?

I won't fight my friend! For what!? Stopping me from killing a defenseless vandal who is already badly wounded?

C̷̬̍͜Ǫ̸̋͝N̷͍̺͗́Ş̷̬̒̾Ù̷̥M̴͚̌̆Ë̴͕͓́ ̴͍́T̶̻̔H̵͎̋Ê̸̮ ̷̨̘̀̕F̷̛̦À̵̞͊L̶̎ͅL̷̢͓͗̑E̵̠͒͠N̶̮͉͑̂

Why!? What's so special about them that would be worth killing them!? The thought of it makes me sick!

C̷̬̍͜Ǫ̸̋͝N̷͍̺͗́Ş̷̬̒̾Ù̷̥M̴͚̌̆Ë̴͕͓́ ̴͍́T̶̻̔H̵͎̋Ê̸̮ ̷̨̘̀̕F̷̛̦À̵̞͊L̶̎ͅL̷̢͓͗̑E̵̠͒͠N̶̮͉͑̂

NO!

I'VE BLED ENOUGH FOR YOU!

YOU WATCHED IN AMUSEMENT AS I KILLED FOR YOU! 

AS I WAS TORTURED ONLY TO BE BROUGHT BACK ON THE BRINK OF DEATH! 

YOU ARE THE REASON THE GUARDIANS DIED! CAS AND MAEVE WOULD STILL BE HERE IF YOU HAD LET ME ACT!

I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING YOUR MINDLESS PUPPET! SHAW AND GHOST ARE THE MENTORS I DESERVE, NOT YOU!

Now…

GET!

OUT!

OF!

MY!

HEAD!

________

The hunter's tension would have reached the Galaxy Pools if his friend kept staring at him for a moment longer.

For a minute, he thought on calling it quits, to escape by transmatting him and Fymsel out of here. But, for some reason, deep down Shaw knew that there was still someone under that armor. 

If they were a monster, they wouldn't have stopped dead on their tracks instead of just pulverizing him to purple ashes. Nice way to release stress, dumbass.

The duo held eye contact for another minute, Shaw wondered if the warlock had fallen asleep or something like that. It didn't sound as crazy considering their being.

"Is their ghost still in there?" Shaw asked his.

"I can feel its light, but it seems… blocked. I'll try to get a better- ARGH." Right on cue, the warlock put their hands on their temples, writhing in what seemed to be pain and screaming nothings for no one to hear.

"You okay!? What happened!?" The hunter was brave, but everyone had their limits. He was regretting every extra second he spent near his ally who seemed to be on the receiving end of the worst headache of their life.

"W-what in the Traveler?" The ghost shakily answered, boosting Shaw's anxiety and making him point at the writhing thing in front of them with his knife while backing away.

"S-safe…?" The hunter sensed Fymsel's worried gaze on them. He put a hand out to tell him to hide again.

He now regretted putting himself in this position; the warlock would have to get through him if they wanted Fymsel, but if he kept backing up, they would be cornered.

Whatever happens, o' bearer mine,

Don't die.

___________

It burned.

IT BURNS!

STOP!

Y̷̤̚Ō̶̗U̵͍͑R̸̼͛ ̴͉̏Ă̴͓C̴͐ͅT̵̬͆Ī̷͉O̶̯̽Ṇ̶̐S̴̛͈ ̴͉̇Ö̴̮́F̶͇̔ ̶̘̄D̴̬̔E̶̠͑F̴̛̹Ǐ̷͖Ä̴̻́N̴͈̚C̶̺̍E̸̥̊ ̸̗̉Ẅ̶̮́É̵̼R̵͈̊Ê̸̤ ̶̩́Q̶̖́U̷̘̓Ȋ̷̩T̴̨̚E̵̡̚ ̸̝́Ä̷̟́M̵̠̽U̷̳͠Ś̴̗I̶͔̾N̴̠̅G̷͉͒

Ỵ̷͊O̶̓ͅU̶̔͜Ŕ̷͙ ̴͎͠A̷̅͜G̴͖͑Ǒ̶͈N̶̯̚Y̵̮̔ ̶̤̉I̸̧̅S̷̲̏ ̸̟̈́E̴̬̔V̶̲̅E̵͖̔N̶̻͂ ̷̦̉B̵̠̊E̸͍̅Ť̸̨T̵̰͝Ȇ̷͖R̷̨͒

P-PLEASE! STOP IT!

Ḏ̸̘́O̸̧̜̔̆Ǹ̴̦̒'̷̯̄̕Ṯ̷̹̈́ ̷͖͗Y̴̰̾͝Ǫ̷̌Ú̸̱̾ ̴̥͛͛R̸̮̐E̵̖͙̅̏C̷̞̈́̋O̵̬̍̓G̵̗̦͌N̸̩̼̏Ï̸̙Z̴̻͉̃̋Ȩ̸͓͒ ̷̣̊̈́Ṯ̷̖̽̉H̵̲̄̌I̵͓̜̍Ṣ̵̈̎ ̸̠̆̿P̶̤̑͐Ã̷̝̘͐I̸̢̦͗Ṇ̷͛?

Ī̷̧͉͠T̴̖͑'̴̨̣͐Š̶̨̛̮ ̵͓̋T̷̨͓̈́H̸͚̮́͊É̶̬̃ ̸̝͆̐S̶̳͍̒A̶͈̽M̵̧̰̚̚E̷̡̙̓̚ ̷͇̝̍̑P̵̞͙̋͒Ȃ̴͙͈̈́I̸̫̩͒N̵͓̾ ̵̡͓̈́̍Y̸̺̹͐̃Ō̴̥U̷̮̣̓̕'̷̦̯͒̏V̴̢̂ͅĘ̸͕̈ ̸͖̄Î̴͎̿N̵͔̑F̶̬̖̃L̸̗̽Ì̴͜C̷̠͝T̶̡̛̉E̸̼͐D̶͕̊ ̶̜̞́T̸̢͗O̸͇̹͂̅ ̸̹̅̈́Ȅ̵̹̯̅V̴̬̎E̵͉͌R̸̮͚̂̕Y̸̢̆O̸͖͝N̴̥̈́E̸̲͚̐̑ ̴͕̇

T-this… this was what they felt…?

The Fallen? The Hive? The wizard? The Witch?

A̷̦̒̚L̴̖̜̂L̵̛͕̓ ̸̺̼̊F̵̮̼̍̔U̸̙͕͆́E̸̲̻͝Ḽ̷̈ ̵̡͈̀͘F̴͖̥̒̽O̴͉͛R̶͎͖̈́ ̶͔̪̂͝Ò̴̢̩̈Ǔ̷̙̙R̷̰̅̈́ ̷͈͒E̴̤̔̕M̵̢̟̑̏Ṕ̸̩͐T̵͍̳͂̕Í̷̫͇͋Ṅ̶̹̝Ě̶͍̑Ş̵͚̚Ṡ̵̹͠

F̸̯͆͜O̴̙̍͝R̸̪̽̀ ̶̮͋͐O̵̼̦͊̚Ủ̶̟R̶̘̯̅ ̴̢̂P̵̛̤̩̒O̶̹͛͆W̷̧͑̃Ē̴̛̗͓R̷̗̾

F̶̯̮̊̚O̶͇̐R̴͖̄ ̵̂͝ͅT̵̼̆̀H̸͍̍É̷͎̼͠ ̷̞̙̈̊V̵̮̐̋O̴͓̖̔̓I̸̜̿D̵͔̈͝

… w-why…?

Why I'm a still…?

…H̶̙̩̏̇uņ̴̩̎̚gr̵̜͛y?

Why is it never enough?

AND WHY DOES IT STILL BURN!?

H̶͍͂͜A̶̱̕V̶̩̙̉E̸̯̹͐̕ ̸̭͋́Y̸͎̾͌O̶̪̾̉Ȗ̴͓̰͛ ̷͉̓͘S̸͙̝͊͝T̴̬̜̽I̸̮͋L̴̻̩̆̊L̵̥̎ ̷̠̰̌N̶̖͑O̸̹̺͐T̴̠̏̊ ̴̪͎̑F̷̨̉Ḭ̶̀͗G̵͉̽̚U̷̞͖͝R̴͖̓͌E̶͓͑̕D̶̬̓ ̸̛̛̩I̶̭͒Ť̴̔͜ ̶̨̉̂Ō̴̡͔̋U̸̧̍̑T̶͕͌ͅ?

Y̶͇̎O̶̜̜̍͗Ǔ̸͖ ̶̟̀́F̸̞̝̓È̴͚E̴͉̍͊D̵̞̂͗ ̵̯̓F̷̜̐R̶̢̎O̵̮̦͒̚M̷̮͙̎ ̴̧̗͊̊T̸̢͙̉H̸̝͐E̴͖̽ ̴̧̩́S̸̛̯̺̀U̴̢̓̊F̷̯̹̅͝F̸̛̦͇̍E̶̡̙͊̄R̷̳̀̊I̸͇͆N̷̰̖̓Ģ̵̋ ̵͌͜O̶̘̓̍F̶̘̏̌ ̷̩͋̉O̴͔͌͌T̴̤̮̉͗H̷͇͔́E̶͇͂̒R̸̮̲̅͛S̵̼̜͛

Y̵͙̆O̵̰̿̅U̶̞̒ ̶̼̋B̴̹͆A̵̞̗͛T̶̠̅͌H̵͍̄̒Ė̸̖̤̌ ̷̖͚̈͠Ị̶͋̊ͅN̷̜͍͠ ̵̤̖͌T̴̗̺͒H̵̟͆Ẽ̸̢I̸̘̒R̵̠͋̑ ̵̱͑A̴͍̒̀Ǵ̸͖̘O̵̮͛̀Ṋ̵̥̅̾Ÿ̶̧̙́̔

T̷͓͙͗̔Ḩ̸͍̇̿E̷͈̅̈́ ̵̡̙̓̑F̷͇̆Â̶͔L̷̨̬͂̊L̴̼̪͐E̷̟͗N̸̺̈́ ̶̂̒ͅH̴̼̼͆͊À̶̘͔S̵̺̭̒͋ ̸̧̦̌̕Ḓ̶͠Ȍ̴̧͉Ņ̴̛͕Ę̶͕͒ ̶͖̻̄̚I̴̠͐͑T̴̥͓̃̐S̶̜̘͗̿ ̶̡͎̿͝J̵̡͎͠O̴̹͊͒B̴̬͕̓͌

Ḿ̵͖̯̍A̵͓̎͐R̴͕̻͌K̷̖̝̈́̍ ̸̞̿T̷̢̎H̴̘͎̉̔È̷̛̦ ̸̛̞̩H̴̖͛̓U̸͖͈͂̽Ṇ̶̈́T̷̻̻̆̀Ė̸̛͕R̶̫̖͒̓

A̶̱̓N̶̘̓D̴̻͒ ̸̞͝W̶̳̋E̴̮̅'̴̟͠L̷̯̔Ļ̵͝ ̴͚̒B̷̙̐E̴̞̿ ̴͕͌R̶̘̓E̷̤̿A̶̛̫Ḍ̴͐Y̵̯̓ ̵̯͐F̶͚̔Ő̶̞Ṟ̵̈́ ̸̩̊T̸̞͂Ḧ̷ͅẸ̴̕ ̸͖̎T̵͈͒O̴̮̾W̴̛̱Ē̸̘R̸̺̍

N-NO!

I… W-WON'T…

F̵͙̍̐I̷̲̦̚N̴̗̓É̷̫̰̚

Ï̶̩F̴̮̾ ̶̪̈Y̵̻̊Ö̷͙́U̷̘̿ ̴͎̆D̶̫͠O̷̼̐N̵͚̋'̸̱̋T̸̬̈ ̶̘͛W̴̩̃Ă̶̱Ṇ̶͛T̸̳͂ ̷̤̃T̶̘̏O̴͇͝ ̴͎̈D̶̻͊Ọ̷̕ ̴̮͋I̵͎͐T̵̟̈.̸̬̆.̶͕̽.̵͕̍

Their vision was fading, ears were destroyed, head about to melt. They wish they weren't inmortal so they could die.

Ṯ̵̌H̶̻̆E̷̢͝N̷̖̿ ̸͉̿B̴̧̄E̴̱̍C̵͈͌O̷̢͐M̵̞̒E̸̩̍ ̸̦́O̵̡͊U̵̔͜Ŕ̷͈ ̵̭́P̸͇̕Ǘ̷͖P̴̺̒P̸̺̈́E̷͔͒T̴̨̛

!!!

They tried to warn the Fallen of the incoming threat, stretching their arms forward only to return to their tormented head as another heat wave pierced through. They could feel void energy flowing like blood throughout their entire body.

Y̸̫̅Ǒ̷̳Ǔ̶͜ ̶̌͜H̸̚͜A̴̯͐D̷̨͒ ̴̥̾P̸̈́ͅO̶̼̾T̷̾ͅE̵̛͇N̷̨͐T̶͍̓I̵̬̓Ă̸͚L̵̞̀

Y̷͈̋E̸̮̋Ṭ̸̸̦͂͆ ̸̬̍Ý̷͜Ö̴̺́Ȗ̴̹ ̵͔͝C̶͚̈́Ĥ̷̡O̷̺̅Ş̸̏E̵̛̩ ̵͖͗T̷̓͜H̷̝̓I̵̭͛Ś̸̹ ̴̨̓I̶̲͊N̴͓̊S̴̮̈́T̸̞͋E̵̛͚A̶͚͂D̸̡͘ ̷̭̍

They tried to get away from Shaw, who was still pointing at them with his knife, not out of fear from him, but for what would happen to him. The knife wouldn't be enough to put them down. Their legs were nailed to the ground, however, unwilling to move. Good. That'll give his friend time to escape or to kill them. But their legs suddenly began moving on their own, towards Shaw.

H̶͔͠Ȍ̶̝Ẉ̵̿Ë̶́͜V̶͇̓E̵̖͠Ŕ̶͙ ̴̯̉Y̵̲͊Ò̵̪Ű̶̝'̵̥͊R̴͚͝E̴̜͒ ̶̬̅Ś̶̜Ṯ̷̅I̵̥͂L̶̫̀L̸̬̄ ̶̜̚Ã̸̞ ̷̾ͅV̵̡̆E̸̘̍Ṡ̷͜S̷̝̀E̶̫̍L̶̩͝ ̷̫̑

Ä̵͔Ń̸͔ ̸̦̆È̷̪Ä̴̻S̸̖̿Í̴͎L̷͑ͅỲ̶̪ ̷̈́͜M̴̩͆O̸̞̕L̸̡̂D̵͈̈́E̷̼̽A̴͔̒B̸̙́L̵͛ͅẸ̸̃ ̴̙͊O̵̘̊N̸͈̒Ẽ̴̙

They tried to call for their ghost, the companion who brought them back to life, who they shared thoughts with pleasantly and the only one who mildly understood what they were going through besides their guardian friend, Shaw.

They could hear a faint mumble, a worried one. They wanted to make out the words, to hear its calming voice again…

W̷͕͋E̶̻̐ ̶̧̕W̷̻͌Ȋ̸̻L̸̰̅L̸̦̀ ̸̱̀S̸͖͝H̶̲̀A̶̟̅P̴̫͒Ȇ̷̥ ̷̦͝Ÿ̴̠́Ǫ̴̊U̷̧̓ ̶̛͇I̵͎̎N̷̟̊T̷͚͠O̸̢̍ ̷̛͜Y̸̨̽O̷̢̚U̶̲̓R̴͇̿ ̵̙̕Ò̶̧Ȑ̴͓I̷̡̎G̴̣͆I̶͕͒N̸̜͛A̸̖̋Ĺ̵͜ ̷͕͆P̶̥̓U̷̼͑R̶̘̄P̸̡̂O̶̥͌Š̶̙E̴̪̋ ̷͓̿O̶̥̿F̶͉̽ ̸̼̃Y̵̠͛O̸̺̚U̷̹͝R̴̞̋ ̷̗͆R̶͔̈E̴̘͗B̴͕̃I̷͉̽R̴̞͑T̸̙͗Ḧ̴̺́

But they couldn't hear.

They couldn't yell.

They couldn't see.

They couldn't feel.

They couldn't think.

They were empty. 

Filled with void.

A̶̧̭͘̕ ̶̣́M̴̨̈́͑O̴̡̪̿̾Ṅ̴̮̎S̴̢͋̆T̸́ͅẺ̷̦̙Ṙ̶̺͂

And they were Ḩ̵̡̺͈̘̙͓̜̌̆͆͠ͅų̵̥͙̘͙͎̒̄͊́͆n̷̞̰̒̊̃͊̍̔g̸̳̪̒̍̆̔͝ŗ̷̺̬̱͖̪͍̭͚̍y̷.̸̥̳̓.̵̱̟̆̕.̶͍̾͘ ̴̳̊̏

Chapter Text

/////////////

Whatever happens, o' bearer mine,

Don't die.

/////////////

If even the Ahamkara's Spine was concerned about his well-being, he should worry. Then again, if he were to get pulverized, the whispers would go silent. Doesn't seem like a bad trade.

Do you truly not care for me? O' bearer mine? How rude. Even when you know that without me, you won't survive.

Clever Spine.

"Shaw, now is not a good time to be talking with your armor. If we do get pulverized… No, let's not finish that thought." Right, Ghost was still with him, and he also didn't want to know what would happen if he were to fall.

The warlock was still writhing in pain in front of him, the hunter would pity them if they had the courage. They were his friend! His companion! They got each other's back so many times over the last few days that he saw them as family! Just like Cas and Maeve.

"Shaw!" A thud returned him to reality. The warlock now laid on the ground, completely immobile. 

Shaw stared at the body of his friend. He should check their pulse, or any sort of signal that would tell him that they were alive. Would they even have a pulse? 

He was too afraid to check. "Ghost, can you… check their vitals? Or their ghost?"

The tiny machine materialized at his side, glaring scorching knives at its guardian before approaching the body very slowly. Shaw was ready to pull his ghost back if anything sudden were to happen. 

"S-safe…?" The alien voice almost made him jump.

Right, Fymsel, he's still here, and it wasn't safe for him to stay, considering the fact that the warlock's feast mode probably activated because of him.

The hunter turned to the vandal, before returning to the body and finally on the two inactive sparrows he and the warlock left ahead. He came up with a plan.

____________

The vandal got out of the shelter warily, also eyeing the body of his torturer.

At first he felt scared, despite the monster's apparent death, for all he knew, it could be preparing another radioactive burst just like it did when his crew first encountered it. Then he felt pity, Fymsel had seen the Machine-spawn convulsing in pain, even stretching its arm at him as if asking for help. Whatever was attacking it, the Eliksni hoped it wouldn't go for him next. 

But another emotion slowly crept outwards, before almost skyrocketing over the others: he felt anger, anger for the guardian that caused all of his suffering, who killed his small crew, his family, who enjoyed the death of one of his brothers like a sadist before marking him with that burning void that hadn't stopped its assault on his face and kept burning with the same intensity. 

He wanted to kick the body, to shoot it with his wire rifle if he still had it, he wanted to disintegrate the guardian like it did with his siblings, he just wanted the monster to suffer a slow and horrible death.

"No vitals, and no signs of their ghost." The small machine who scanned the monster spoke.

Seems like his wish came true.

Fymsel heard the nice guardian sigh. "Call the vanguard, tell them they must send immediate extraction, and also to bring something to suppress the light." He then turned to him. "C'mon, Fymsel. Let's find a safe place, away from here." He made a gesture with his hand, moving the fingers in a walking manner before hopping on some sort of vehicle.

The Eliksni found it quite funny the fact that the guardian thought he couldn't understand human, he was simply bad at speaking it, but now's not the time to tell him that.

He hopped on the very weird ride next to the guardian. The controls weren't so different from a pike, so he would manage. His savior seemed to notice it and rode away from the camp and from the monster, the vandal followed closely. He looked over his shoulder to make sure that the body still remained on the ground, hoping it would stay there.

Forever.

___________

T̷h̸e̵r̷e̶'̸s̶ ̴n̵o̸t̴h̵i̸n̶g̶.̸

̵C̵a̵n̷'̸t̵ ̷s̶e̷e̸ ̴n̶o̶t̵h̸i̶n̴g̴.̶

̶C̴a̸n̸'̵t̶ ̷f̸e̶e̷l̷ ̷n̶o̸t̸h̵i̵n̸g̵.̶

̸T̷h̸e̴r̶e̴'̶s̸ ̴n̶o̴t̸h̵i̷n̵g̸.̴

̶O̶n̸l̵y̴ ̶f̵a̷i̴n̵t̸ ̷w̴h̴i̸s̸p̶e̷r̶s̵.̴

"C-can… hear…?"

At first they were insignificant, but they grew louder.

F̶͔͗̾͛͝e̶̮̙̩̓e̷̢̹̦͖͊̈̅̽d̷̦͒

V̷͎͐̔͜ọ̷̥̓̈́i̶͓͇̔̃͝d̷̪̰̹͌͌̍

H̵͚̠̍u̵̝͗̍n̶̮̭̭̼̋͌̅̔͝g̸̣͗r̴̺̥̰͍̩̜̽͊̀ẏ̴̼̗̍

D̶̨̾̀̃̚ë̷͓̭́̿̋̀v̶͚̜̹̾̉̂ȯ̸̗̒u̵̬͗̃r̶͔̯͑

The voice came from beyond the nothing.

It c̵a̵l̶l̵e̵d̸.

It o̴f̶f̴e̴r̶e̵d̵.

It p̴r̴o̸m̸i̴s̸e̸d̵.

And the monster would answer to it.

Ŵ̴̖͗A̸̧̪̐̄K̵͍̯͌͝E̴̖͕͘ͅ ̶̮̙̏͘Ù̴̜̣̄̐P̷̹̓͊̚͜

F̷e̴e̷l̷i̶n̸g̴ ̴o̶f̸ ̵l̸i̵m̷b̸s̴ ̸r̸e̶t̴u̶r̸n̵e̶d̷.̴

̸E̶y̵e̵s̶ ̶o̵p̷e̸n̷e̶d̵.̸

̵B̶l̴i̸n̸d̵i̷n̵g̴ ̵l̵i̷g̸h̸t̵.̷

̴B̷u̸t̷ ̷i̵t̸ ̷w̷a̵s̶ ̵b̷o̸r̵n̸ ̷i̴n̷ ̷i̴t̷.̶

̸B̵a̷t̴h̴e̶d̵ ̶i̷n̸ ̵i̸t̸.̸

Despite it, its body felt weak, but strong. Full, yet empty.

I̸t̴ ̴r̸e̶m̶e̶m̷b̴e̶r̷s̵ ̵t̶h̷a̵t̷ ̷e̵m̵p̸t̷i̶n̷e̴s̵s̷ ̸v̸e̶r̸y̶ ̶w̴e̷l̸l̵.̴

T̴̛͖͔̖̈́H̴̛̜̬̳́́E̴̮̬̍̊͛ ̶̡͖̣̂̅͝Ṽ̸̙O̶̫͌̿͊Į̶͓̓̈́́D̶̮͈͆̇́ ̶͍̩̊C̵̜̅͝Å̷̗̹͆̎L̵̪̟̍̔̆Ḽ̷̖̗̚͠S̵̠̬͌͜ ̵͍͚͙͘M̴̦̰̤̌̃̓Ý̵̨̛̟̑ ̷̯̋̋̎G̴̞͊U̵̗̲̅A̷̝͝R̶̲͌D̴̟̮̙̊̂̎Į̷̈̉͝Ḁ̵̗̊N̸͈̒͐̚ ̶̜̎

Ẫ̴̤͉̥͋N̵̙̫͍̏̈́͋S̷͓̈́̕͠W̴̛̺̦̳̿̐È̵̲̓ͅR̶̙̻̓ ̸̱͇̑O̴̦͌͐̒Ų̷̲̠̒̊R̶̨̋̀̆ ̵̠̄̒̚V̴̢͓͈͐O̵̳͗I̴̡̙͌̿͆C̴̻͖̍͒͠E̸̛̐̊ͅ

A̴͉̱̠̋͋͝N̷͙̬̮͐̇D̴͈̱̜̂ ̶̤̙̼͛Ÿ̷̪̚O̸̲͋̏̎Ụ̶̭̒Ȓ̶̡̥ ̴̪̙̆E̸̡̖̲̍M̵̹͓̏P̴̡̡͇̀̀̉T̸͎́̾Ï̷̡̺̀Ǹ̵̪̣ͅÊ̵̙̈́̇Ś̵̩͝S̸̩̉̏ ̴̹̋̉͛W̸͓̦̊̄ͅÌ̵̳͕̽̋Ḻ̴͖̤̋̓̒L̸̜̯̲̀ ̷̤̞͐C̶̫̄Ḛ̸̘͂͊̒À̷͖̪̤̿S̶͎̝̀Ē̷̛̟̠

Something inside it grumbled. It called for sustain.

It was Ḩ̵̡̺͈̘̙͓̜̌̆͆͠ͅų̵̥͙̘͙͎̒̄͊́͆n̷̞̰̒̊̃͊̍̔g̸̳̪̒̍̆̔͝ŗ̷̺̬̱͖̪͍̭͚̍y̷

G̶̺̺̙͊́E̷̡͕̞͆͂T̶̬̖̏͝ ̶̰̭͕͌U̶̖̫̬͌P̴̧̤͈̈́͋

The entity rose to its feet, its vision blurry, everything black and purple, but it knew its surroundings well, as if it were born on it.

Y̵̺͗͝Ó̸͔͌Ȕ̷̡̺Ȓ̷̹̥̀̉ ̸͍̪̀̏͝P̸̫̦̓Ř̴̰̔Ĕ̶̲Y̷͓̋͝ ̷̳̏I̷̹̭͒̓S̵̹̄̓̓ ̵̙͓͊͌̚G̴͙̓E̶̖͝Ť̸͈̕͠Ṯ̵̜̱̾̿͛Ḯ̷̝̣N̸̲̭̥̾͂̓Ǧ̸̭ ̷̘̲̋̏͐À̴͎͝Ẇ̵̟́A̷̠̤͝Y̶̡̹͂

It turned its head to two white figures gliding away, the only thing that contrasted the otherwise dark yet bright scenery. 

Ḧ̶͎́Ú̸̧̜̜̎̑N̴̜̓͂̇Ṱ̶͔̲̿͠͝ ̸̢̺̖͂̀T̸̫̽H̷̹̙͊E̵͙̓M̷̨̠̔̊͛ ̵͈͖̙̈͐D̸̰͔͍̋̓Ȯ̸̥͕W̵̬̏̿͑Ṉ̴̈̋

The void called.

A̸n̷d̶ ̷t̷h̴e̸ ̶m̷o̴n̸s̸t̶e̸r̵ ̷w̷o̴u̷l̵d̸ ̵a̴n̶s̶w̶e̶r̵.̶

_____________

"What do you mean you're compromised by a 'feral-lock'?" Shaw was a huge fan of the vanguard, despite his obvious lack of professionalism, but if Zavala kept asking questions instead of sending the damned rescue ship, he would join the Drifter.

"I-I don't know how else to call them. Look, I have an Eliksni here who needs medical attention ASAP-."

"An Eliksni? That complicates things, guardian. Mithrax would have to get involved here and he's quite occupied at the moment-."

"There won't be another moment for this guy unless we get him to safety, damnit!" The hunter desperately interrupted the commander. He didn't care if he were to get scolded, he needed him to understand the seriousness of the situation!

Shaw looked over his shoulder, Fymsel was still with him. They stopped at the top of a hill to let the engines cool down. Scanning over the field, there were no signs of the warlock.

"Hmm, fine." Zavala said over the comms. "We'll send a ship to get you out, but I still don't get why you need a light suppressor and…"

The hunter no longer heard, he scanned the empty field once again with eyes wide open.

There were no signs of the warlock.

The place where the warlock once laid was now empty.

No. No no no no no.

Why do I have to deal with this? How did this mission devolve itself so badly?

Why should I even bother on running? I've seen how fast they could be, and fighting would be just as efficient.

Shaw thought of simply giving up, to just lay down on the ground and hope for a quick end.

But his ghost had other plans: "Snap out of it, hunter!" It called. "We stay here, we die! Get a move on!"

Right, his ghost!

"Transmatt us to my ship, now!"

He could feel his ghost's shock, but it seemed to understand that its guardian had had enough of the feral-lock's hunt.

"O-of course, let me just…" The planicie fell silent as Shaw eagerly awaited the transmatt. He looked at Fymsel who seemed to be waiting with the same excitement for the warm and safe ship.

But the transmatt never came.

"Ghost?"

"I-I'm locked out from the ship!?"

From those words, the hunter finally broke into pure panic. He got the attention of Fymsel before boosting away, hoping that the Eliksni was following him. He was overworking the engine but for now it didn't matter to him.

For he knew damn well that now the hunter was being hunted.

_____________

T̸h̶e̵ ̶b̶l̷o̷c̵k̵e̷r̷ ̸i̶s̴ ̴b̶a̷c̷k̸ ̵o̶n̷l̶i̴n̸e̸.̸

̴T̵h̸e̵i̸r̶ ̷o̴n̴l̶y̸ ̵h̴o̸p̸e̴ ̴i̵s̶ ̸f̵o̸r̷ ̴h̷e̶l̴p̴ ̷t̸h̷a̵t̸ ̸w̸i̸l̵l̷ ̷n̵e̸v̶e̷r̷ ̵c̸o̶m̴e̷.̸

Blinking out of the building, the monster saw the figures of the guardian and the Fallen speeding away, leaving behind a sweet trail of pain from the vandal, courtesy of the marks it once gave them.

The thrill of the chase called, p̵r̵e̸y̴ ̶r̸u̷n̶n̷i̶n̵g̴ ̸a̴w̴a̸y̷ ̷f̸r̷o̷m̸ ̷t̵h̶e̷ ̶p̵r̸e̵d̴a̵t̴o̸r̵.̶

It got ready for another blink, the execution of it so familiar despite being born mere minutes ago.

"Guardian… please… stop this…"

It stopped.

"Y-you can hear me, right…?"

…

"If you can, I beg you, please wake up, this is not you. Don't let yourself be controlled by this-"

Y̷̡͝O̴͓͠Ȕ̶̢R̵̬͑ ̸͎͑P̶̱̐R̷̳͑Ȅ̸̞Y̵̬͆ ̷͈̈I̸̼̾S̸͈̊ ̶̣̐G̵͈̓Ē̶̲T̵͖̆T̸̫̂I̶͍͗N̶̖̓Ǵ̵͈ ̶̭̑A̶͓͊W̸̮͑A̷̻̽Y̷̝̍

N̷o̷ ̸t̵i̴m̴e̷ ̷t̶o̶ ̷l̴i̸s̴t̷e̷n̵ ̵t̶o̵ ̸a̵n̵o̸t̸h̷e̵r̵ ̵v̴o̶i̷c̴e̷.̶

̷T̸h̷e̵ ̴c̴h̸a̵s̴e̷ ̶i̵s̷ ̵o̸n̷.̷

_______________

His wish didn't come true and soon they'll both pay the price.

Fymsel got infected by the hunter's fear. He thought guardians were fearless warriors of the Great Machine, yet here was one, shaking in his boots, or maybe it was just him. 

Or the weird pike.

"Pike," Despite being overly dangerous, Fymsel got closer to the guardian before tapping his shoulder. He put a hand on his vehicle. It was getting hotter. "Overheat, don't."

The guardian got the message, their 'pikes's' speed slowly went down.

"Thanks, Fymsel." He said while the vehicle went at much more reasonable speed. However, the ride was still shaking. If they didn't stop to let it rest, it might combust.

Fymsel tapped the guardian's shoulder once more. "Stop. Dangerous." He slapped the side of his 'pike' to accentuate his worries. "Combustion."

His savior seemed reluctant to do so, but he eventually stopped. Both still had a firm grip on the handles of their vehicles. Fymsel was the first one to let go and look around.

They were in a field decorated with human's Golden Age ships. There was something eerily beautiful from the scenery, something that made him want to lie down here and now, even if that thing was probably chasing them. 

Without the motor roaring at his ears, the vandal now realized just how heavily the guardian was breathing. Even if Fymsel had wished for the psycho-guardian's death, they must've been close with each other, judging by the fact they arrived together. Either the nice guardian was grieving the loss of a friend turned into an enemy, or he had also seen what the monster could be capable of and was as afraid of it as was Fymsel. How did they manage to become friends anyway? Were they even friends?

The vandal raised his hand to call the guardian's attention. "H-hurt?".

The guardian looked up to him. "N-no. Not… physically at least…" his tone got more worried. "But, what about you!?" He pointed at Fymsel's hand. 

There was steam coming out of them, possibly by the vehicle's high temperature. He thankfully wore gloves, but the pain was all too familiar to the one on his face.

That made him realize that also he wasn't in the best of conditions. He was breathing just as heavily and the pain he ignored while sleeping and running away hit him back all at once as if a ketch had ran over him.

And despite it, he managed to mutter the words; "Me… fine."

The guardian stayed silent at this. It was obvious that he saw through his lie, but didn't seem annoyed by it. Instead he opened his palm, from where a white ball materialized. It looked harmless, but it didn't make Fymsel any less nervous.

"Give me your hand." The guardian said.

He wouldn't kill you, right? After all he's done for you?

The vandal worriedly stretched his arm forward. The guardian took it carefully and, with even more carefulness, placed the ball on his palm.

A warmth spread from the hand and through his entire body. His breathing returned to a normal pace and the burn marks got less intense, if even by a bit. He was rejuvenated, he felt like he could take down a guardian by himself, with the exception of his savior and the monster, of course.

"How does it feel?".

Like I just drank a Kell's entire personal ether stash.

"Better. Thank."

The guardian seemed to relax upon hearing this. His breathing also calmed down and he seemed less on edge.

"GUARDIAN!"

Eliksni.

Whoever yelled, spoke Eliksni.

Looking over his shoulder, Fymsel's worries disappeared as he saw a captain and his crew approaching them. He turned to the guardian with a smile, hoping to find a smile of his own on his face, even if it was covered by a helmet.

But instead he saw the nice guardian pulling out his rifle. 

That was when the vandal realized the disaster that was about to occur.

Acting quickly, he jumped out of the vehicle and put himself between the guardian and the crew. "Stop! Don't fire!" He said in Eliksni. "He's an ally! He can help us! Please don't shoot!".

The captain raised his hand, a signal to the crew to hold their fire. The vandal didn't know if he was shocked by either his wounds or the fact that he was defending a Light Bearer. "Tell us why, now! Or you both get a bullet in your heads!" 

Fymsel turned to the guardian, his weapon was raised, ready to fire. "Lower rifle." He whispered to him, and he did so.

Alright, Fymsel, you got this.

"Eliksni, I may not know any of you, but please listen to my message. These marks I bear," he pointed at the purple burns. "They're the result of an encounter my crew faced with a monster, a guardian, to be exact." The public seemed like they were about to jump on them at any second, the captain standing out the most with his Kell-worthy stature.

"It left me to rot with the remains of my dead family, but, when on my last breath, this guardian," he pointed to his savior. "He granted me mercy, shelter and aid. He even faced the monster when it dared threaten us!" The public gasped, lowering their weapons, except for the captain.

They're listening now. Warn them of the monster.

"Unfortunately, we had to run from it, which means that it still lives," worried whispers were exchanged. "And… it's after us now." The crew went silent. "I know I'm not your captain, and you have no reason to hear my words, but please do so this one time: this monster is not something to laugh about, it's powerful, and we may all die if we choose to fight it. So to those who have a family of another reason to live for, now's your chance to leave."

Fymsel was both grateful and afraid of the silence that followed after. He managed to finish his speech just as the effects from the magic ball seemed to vanish, making the pain impossible for him to continue speaking. But if the Eliksni didn't believe him, or simply had true hearts of pirates, they may get that bullet the captain promised.

The captain approached him, towering over him. The guardian lifted his rifle a bit in case things got messy.

"What's your name, vandal?"

The vandal gulped, before speaking through the pain. "F-Fymsel, captain."

The captain turned around. "Do we fear death, my crew!?" 

A chorus of voices yelling 'NO!!' answered.

"And what about you, Fymsel? Do you fear death?" He turned once again to him, his head getting closer to his.

Do I? For a moment I thought I did. But now? What do I have to live for anyway?

...

If I'm going to die, let's at least try to finish what my crew started.

"I don't, captain!" He answered firmly.

The captain laughed, proudly. "Call me Suprex, Fymsel. What about your light-bearing friend over there? What's his name?"

Fymsel turned to the guardian and tried to remember his name.

But… he never told him, did he?

"Name?" He asked the nice guardian in human.

The guardian perked up as he heard a familiar word, thinking he had become a third wheel because of him not being able to understand Eliksni all that well.

"My name?" He asked, pointing at himself. Fymsel nodded. "It's… Shaw. Shaw Han."

"Cho Jan?"

"… Yeah, something like that."

Weird name, but who was he to judge?

"Welcome to the crew, Fymsel and Cho Jan!" Suprex celebrated, putting two of his hands on their shoulders and throwing the other two at the air, the crew behind him joining in the cheering. 

"Someone give Fymsel a gun!" He ordered. "And prepare yourselves for a fight against this monstrous guardian! And to whoever's too afraid of facing them, you can ask my launcher for retirement!" The cheers grew louder before dying away as Suprex started barking orders.

Fymsel couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this happy. They may be a bit more stubborn and reckless than his old crew, but it still felt like he was back with his family.

A tap on his shoulder got his attention. "So… uhh… what exactly did you sign us up to?"

Fymsel fought through the pain on his face and formed a smile. "A way to fight back the monster."

_______________

B̸l̷i̶n̵k̸.̵

̷B̷l̵i̸n̵k̵.̸

̶B̸l̶i̸n̴k̷.̸

̶B̷l̶i̷n̵k̷.̴

"G-guardian… please stop this…"

Ǧ̷̢̍Ō̵̺ ̴̿ͅF̶̲̆̚Ä̸͙̜S̸̺̏͂T̷̡̛È̷͍R̶͈̋

M̷o̷r̶e̵ ̸a̸n̸d̸ ̷m̷o̶r̷e̷ ̷b̴l̵i̴n̶k̷s̵

I̴f̶ ̷I̵ ̴m̸o̵v̸e̴ ̵f̸a̴s̴t̵ ̵e̸n̶o̴u̴g̶h̷,̸ ̷m̸a̸y̵b̶e̸ ̶I̴'̴l̴l̴ ̴s̵t̵o̴p̸ ̷h̸a̴v̶i̶n̴g̸ ̸t̵o̷ ̶h̶e̸a̵r̵ ̶t̵h̵e̸ ̶o̷t̶h̶e̶r̶'̸s̸ ̸w̷h̵i̸s̸p̴e̶r̵s̴.

"Y-you're overworking yourself…

You'll pass out…!

Please… listen to me…"

…

W̷hy̶ ̴do̸ ̵t̶h̷e̸y ̴so̷un̶d̶ ̶f̵a̶mi̴l̵i̷ar?

Ÿ̷̡͖̯́Ȏ̷̧̳̦͗Ū̸̳̫̞R̶̳̍̄ ̷̬̩̀̏P̵̧͔̄͝Ȑ̷̠̝̪Ē̴͕̦͎̂͝Y̴̻̺̟͗̌̉ ̷̠͐Ĭ̶̗̠̖̔S̶̤͙̈́̈́ C̴̟̓̉̄L̸̢͎̽͝Ỏ̴̡̤̾S̷͔̋E̵͓͕͑̔͜

The smell was faint, but it was there.

After climbing up a hill, it saw them; those familiar white figures, i̶t̶s̵ ̶p̸r̴e̷y̶.

And alongside them, a few dozen and more white figures.

All of them f̵o̴o̸d̴.

"Don't do this…

Please don't…"

Ķ̶̭̑̂͂I̴̢̮͂̇̽Ļ̵̲̃̔L̸̯̲͊̂͠ ̵̨̘̀̕Ț̴̀̑H̸̭̊̀E̴͍̒M̴̢̆͌ ̶̢̞͎͠Ă̷̳̺L̵̬̩̫̒͝L̶̫͍̊

Chapter Text

"What exactly is the plan again?"

Fymsel turned to him, rolling his eyes in annoyment as he was asked once again the same question.

"Monster comes to us." He explained. "Gunners sprayed all around human ships, all shoot monster when it arrives."

Shaw was not calmed by this 'plan'. They would just shoot the… monster, and hope that it kills them? How many times has a guardian single-handedly defeated an entire crew on their own!?

Fymsel seemed to read his thoughts. "Worry not." He put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We have you."

This creature amuses me, o' bearer mine.

The hunter was stunned at this. They hoped that he, out of all guardians, would be able to face the warlock?

"Monster powerful, but you, more brave, more powerful." Please, don't put your faith in me. "You and captain face monster, rest stays back and all shoot monster coordinated."

Do you have a better plan, o' bearer mine?

That… could actually work. If they give the warlock no time to breathe, they wouldn't have time to recover. 

They could kill them.

…

And what happens after we kill them?

We won't have to… Right?

Shaw felt his ghost shudder inside him.

No, they won't take those two's lives. Not after all that's happened.

But, still…

"What if we manage to kill them?" Shaw asked, afraid of the answer.

Now it was Fymsel's turn to stay silent, debating whether he should answer or not.

"Captain said…" he muttered. "Kill again… and again, until no will to keep coming back…"

By the Traveler…

They've gone through a lot because of your kind, o' bearer mine.

Let them have this.

The captain yelled a familiar word, the same that he used when they first met.

"Great-Machine blesses you, Cho Jan." Fymsel said before retreating back with the rest of the crew, wire rifle in hand.

"Please don't die, Fymsel." 

The hunter placed himself next to the elite captain, both of them in the middle of the field.

The captain spoke some words to him in Eliksni, something about 'honor' and 'dying'. These people really only care about glory, huh?

The enemy approaches, o' bearer mine.

They won't show mercy.

Neither should you.

The warlock made their appearance on top of the hill in front of them. Their body covered in void, barely recognizable.

Good, he won't feel as bad when he shoots them.

__________

There it was.

It was hard to recognize at first, but it's definitely the one.

The one who killed his entire family.

It was covered in void, almost resembling his scars, but they definitely weren't bothered by their own.

Let me share my pain with you, monster.

The captain yelled, and a beautiful chorus of guns firing was heard across the entire Cosmodrome.

May this one not be their last.

_____________

F̷̨̕Ē̴͎E̴͍͗Ļ̴̈́S̸̰͗ ̷͈͐F̷̣͒A̵̲͋M̶̠͆I̷̗͌L̴͖̉Ī̶̥A̷͖̚R̸̜͝,̸̪̑ ̶̮̌R̶̫̾Ȉ̸͙Ģ̵̊H̶̑ͅT̷̰̒?

E̵x̸c̴e̵p̴t̴ ̵t̶h̶i̴s̶ ̷t̸i̷m̷e̸,̷ ̶t̴h̶e̵ ̵a̶l̶i̴e̷n̴s̷ ̶p̶l̴a̵y̶e̷d̶ ̶i̴t̴ ̶s̸m̸a̴r̷t̵.

They didn't know where the sense of Deja Vu came from, but dancing and blinking between bullets felt oddly… familiar.

"You've done this before…!

Why can't you remember…?"

W̴h̴y̴ ̴c̴a̸n̶ ̸I̷ ̵s̵t̷i̴l̸l̸ ̷h̷e̴a̷r̸ ̸i̵t̸?

The Fallen were positioned more strategically, almost all of them with snipers and fairly distanced from each other.

The only ones close enough for it to attempt to take out was a towering captain.

And t̸h̷e̷ ̶g̶u̸a̶r̵d̸i̸a̴n̸.

T̸͓̝͆H̴̤͍̣̄͝E̸̟͚̐̈́́Y̵̡̡̆̅̒ ̴͓͂L̶̻̃̃Ẻ̶̖ͅẢ̵̠͎̬̔́R̷̬̣͛̽N̴̯͂̃͒Ȩ̶̀Ḑ̸̰̝̀ ̷̡͔̒F̴̞̗͖̀R̶̯̊Ȯ̸͚̟͎͆M̷̥̾ ̶̤͙̩̀Y̴̹͕̓̃Ő̴̟̓̑Ủ̴̺͉̣̀̈́Ȓ̶̖̰͝ ̵͎̩̒̽P̸͕̓̀R̶̬͊̔͗ͅḚ̵͖̦̓͠Ḏ̷͓͙́E̷̦̍͌C̴̛͈̰̋͐E̸̟̟͒͂S̶̖̈́̍͘S̷̤͉͛̈́́O̴̩̿̓Ŕ̵̗̱̹̋

S̸̤͓̽̆H̵̯̟̋̍͜Ô̶̺̭͋͒W̵̖̊̑̇ ̵̲̓͌̀T̷̢̩̑̌͠ͅḤ̴͖̐̃E̷̛̺̼̐̉M̴̧̏̌͊ ̶̙͓̻̓̀̀I̴̛͚̍T̵̼̼͐͂ ̶̧̩̤̅͘Ŵ̷̛͍͜͠Ô̶̞̖̐N̷̙̝̩͊͋̕'̸̙́̊T̷̩̹̜̈͘ ̵̤̕M̷̧̭̰̋A̶̲͑T̴͍͎̅̀T̴̼̓̎͛E̷͈̭̐R̷͚͛̾͛ ̷̩̥̟͐̆̎I̶̩̱̽N̴̫͓̍̾ ̶̢̜͖̃͆T̵̯̽Ĥ̶̩͋͝Ȇ̴͍̥͍͛͌ ̷̘͊̑Ē̵̫͚N̵̼̮̖̐̉͒D̸̻̗͊

I̶t̷ ̷d̷o̴e̶s̴n̷'̷t̸ ̵m̸a̵t̶t̷e̸r̶ ̸i̸f̴ ̷t̵h̴e̷i̶r̷ ̸s̴t̵r̵a̶t̸e̸g̵y̶ ̴i̷s̶ ̵d̷i̴f̶f̸e̸r̶e̸n̴t̴.

T̶h̵e̴y̶ ̵w̶i̶l̸l̸ ̷a̵l̷l̸ ̸f̸a̵l̶l̶.

They blinked all around the battlefield, trying to get closer to a sniper nest while dodging the bullets fired at them.

It was difficult, however, as the weapons firing rate almost quadrupled whenever they got closer to one or the captain or the guardian would push them back with either the former getting in the way and punching them or receiving a knife throw from the latter, forcing them to retreat.

The result was a monster caught in a painful loop from which they could barely recover from.

A shot pierced their side.

"Go back and heal…!"

K̵͖̣̾Ě̶̙̿Ȩ̸̮͌͊P̸̼̳̽͝ ̷̛͕͠T̴̢̠̎H̷̗͚͠E̴̬͊͘ ̶̼̀̀P̶̠͍̑̅R̷͉̋̂Ẽ̴͖̈́S̴̞̊Ŝ̸͎͑Ũ̸̡̥͑R̸̢͓͝E̴̼͑

They tried to assault a sniper nest yet again, only for a knife to embed itself into their body before exploding.

"You're going to die!!"

Ȃ̷̱̚B̴̫̼̋̾S̶̮̱͌́O̸͇͔̅R̵͔̿̆ͅB̷̛̭͐ ̴̪̯̾T̶̡͋H̷̫͂E̷̫͝ ̷̡̛̈́P̸̗̖̉A̷̢͝Ȉ̴̬̐N̷͚͓̊͋

The explosion sent them flying back to the ground, right in front of the captain.

The Fallen lifted its four arms, before slamming all of them onto their radioactive body.

"I-I'm sorry, guardian.

I can't do anything…"

They simply laid there, relishing in each and every wound, each one fueling something.

Y̶̞͑Ỏ̸͔̺U̵̳̳̔̒ ̴̻͓͆́L̶͈̎́͜E̶̲͠Ą̴͎̈́̄R̵̡̫͒̏N̶̝̲͊̍ ̵̛̳͎F̸͕̌A̵̰͛S̴̱̝͑Ṭ̶͆

S̷̝̎H̸͚̭͆O̶̬̪̍͑Ẃ̷͔͖͂ ̴͕͛ͅM̴̢͇͐̓E̴̹̿͠ ̶̰̤͑͝Ý̷̻͆ͅÕ̸̼̦U̸̖̓̕R̵̖͝ ̸̝̈Ṱ̵̢̀͠Ȑ̸̩̆Û̷̦̣E̸͈͇͒ ̷͓̋Ľ̴̫͕̊I̶̗͑̕G̸͔̉͗Ḧ̸͇́Ṭ̷̙̚ ̷͉̫̿M̶̛͎Ý̸̘ ̴̖̍͛G̸̺̮͋U̶̬̽A̸̮͌̚Ŕ̴̿͜D̵͚́I̶͎̟̅A̵̧͔͝Ń̵͓̭͆

"No!"

____________

The warlock fell. Shaw felt their bones crush as Suprex slammed them, and they didn't get up. Dear Traveler, he probably broke their spine.

Don't feel bad, o' bearer mine.

It was them or us.

Despite it, it still doesn't feel right. A guardian fighting alongside Eliksni to take down… a guardian.

The hunter went besides the warlock. Suprex was celebrating his victory with his crew, so he could take a moment before they…

He knelt by their side. "I don't know if you can hear me, but please know that I'm just doing what I have to do…"

Of course, the corpse didn't answer.

The hunter sighed. "I'm a guardian. I'm just protecting those who can't come back from death. Just hang on a bit, the vanguard will be here any moment now."

The warlock stayed immobile. They weren't… right?

Shaw's ghost couldn't sense theirs. It didn't abandon them, did it? He's heard of warlords doing way worse things and their ghosts stayed faithful to them.

So… where was their-?

"VOID!"

The hunter turned to the sniper nests. Fymsel was waving his arms at him.

"What!?"

"VOID!!"

He turned to the warlock's body. Purple energy dancing around them.

They levitated back to their feet, a ball of raw void energy between their hands.

//////////////

"There's nothing more beautiful and terrifying than watching a guardian unleash their true light."

//////////////

He felt someone tugging his cape, before being thrown by it, away from the abomination.

Suprex looked back at him, before a purple explosion enveloped him.

And his eyes were blinded by light.

______________

It's all too familiar.

Why is this happening again?

Why!?

WHY!?

Fymsel quickly slid off from the rusted ship, taking cover from the blinding explosion. Other Eliksni followed his example.

Unfortunately, many more didn't react in time, and now they were nothing but dust.

How can we be so foolish?

No, it's all my fault. I should've warned them of this. 

But I didn't, and now the others… and now Suprex…

His marks grew in intensity. He thought it was related to the explosion going on at his back, and not the tears that flowed over them.

Keep it together. The guardian is going to come back to life and help us, and we still have a considerable amount of snipers. We can still win this…

Not even he fell for his own lie.

____________

When his ghost brought him back, Shaw's eyes were still sparkling from the explosion.

He managed to take a poor look around: the airplanes were almost cut in half, and the ground was completely dark. There were a few sparkles of void here and there.

And in front of him, the monster.

It stared at him.

You won't let yourself be intimidated by it, right, o' bearer mine?

And he stared back.

Good.

Avenge the souls it has taken.

Solar light enveloped his body. 

Raising his hand, a massive hand cannon shined brightly like gold against the sun.

The monster began to glide over to him, unphased.

He took aim at it with the golden gun. 

And pulled the trigger.

…

There was a massive hole on their chest now, still releasing smoke from the corners of it.

When Navôta said that the warlock was hollow, he didn't expect them to actually be hollow.

Shaw has always referred to them as a Them, since he had no way of telling if they were male or female.

Turns out, neither of them are correct.

Inside them, void energy mimicked a pulsing heart, releasing even more purple liquid around the hole, before finally closing the gap.

The armor simply held together an organism made of light.

Does that matter now? Shoot them again, o' bearer mine.

The hunter pulled the trigger again.

And yet again the hole was patched up.

One, two, three more bullets.

And the result was just as expected.

Fruitless.

His light was wavering, vision still foggy. They still had one more shot. Maybe aim for the head?

Shaw dropped the golden gun. He couldn't do it. He dropped to his knees 

"If only I had more time…"

The warlock got closer.

"Go ahead. Kill me. I don't have any other reason to stay here anymore."

He opened his arms.

"Forgive me, warlock. In the end, I won't be able to save you."

The warlock stopped for a moment, they hesitated, but their instinct was stronger than their mind now. 

They reached their arms forward, aiming for his face.

We had a great adventure, o' bearer mine.

I'll miss you…

Shaw always wondered how a warlock's void would feel. Void seemed to be cold, but Fymsel's marks said otherwise.

He hoped the fella had managed to escape, alongside whoever survived.

The warlock put their hands on his face. Yep, the void definitely is hot.

I'm coming home, Cas and Maeve…

____________

Fymsel took aim with his wire rifle.

No one should suffer what I'm suffering.

A hole right on the monster's temple got their attention, making them drop Cho Jan.

Great, hopefully he survives.

…

Now what?

"You're brave, marked one. If this is the end you want, we'll share it with you." An Eliksni beside him said, others making affirmative noises.

"It was an honor fighting with you, Fymsel." Someone else said.

"Let's at least go out with the same bravery as our fallen captain." Everyone grabbed their weapons, all aiming at the approaching guardian.

"I haven't known you guys for long, but you're like family to me already. Thanks for everything." Fymsel added. Everyone was ready to embrace the end.

The monster got closer, unintimidated by the firing squad.

"DON'T!"

From the still opened hole, a small machine flew out of it.

A ghost.

______________

.̶.̸.̵

Ghost?

"Guardian, it's okay, I'm here."

Their body slowly went back to their usual self.

No radiation.

No void.

What… where… 

What happened to me…?

"It's alright, we just suffered a… small hiccup… yeah."

They looked up. A bunch of Fallen watching back with their weapons lowered. The one in the middle fashioned some very nasty burns.

They looked back…

The hunter was on the ground. He was alive, right?

"He's… fine. Just a little beaten up…"

Just a little?

JUST A LITTLE!?

I ALMOST KILLED EVERYONE!

WHAT WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU DIDN'T STOP ME!?

"I-it's okay, guardian…"

NO! IT'S NOT OKAY!

I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!

WHY…?

...

Just why…?

Why is this happening to me…?

"We'll be fine… we'll find a way out of this one, I'm sure." The ghost nuzzled against its guardian, in an attempt to comfort them…

I-I'm… sorry…

I'm so, so sorry…

…

Y̸̪̼̦̐͠O̴̙̫̮̊U̸̦̫̪͋͆̏ ̵̡͗D̴͓͈̫͆̏O̸̳̫͊́͛ͅN̶̞͐̇̎'̸̯̼͚̆͝͝T̸̜͋͛̕ ̴͈̮̅Ǹ̷̤̲͑͝ͅḘ̵̱͛E̵͈̾́D̸̮̾̆͝ͅ ̶̲͎̀̓T̴̥̂͠H̵͕̾́E̶̖̘̘͒̄ ̵̝͋̏͝Ĝ̶̨̫͕̉̂H̸̲̭͎̑̀͊Ờ̸͈̩͓S̸͂͛͜T̷̹̣̔̑

C̷̤̈́Ȍ̵̮̄̚N̶̟̞̈́̂S̶͙̅̋̈Ủ̸̮͂M̸͔͉̪̊Ē̸͓̝̠͝ ̴̛͙̪͘I̸͙̓T̶͚͚̔̍̋

Its body rekindled with purple lightning. The Eliksni raised their weapons back up. The hunter rose to their feet and took aim with the few bullets that still remained in the golden gun.

But they weren't its objective.

Both guardian and Eliksni took a shaky step back as the void entity grabbed the ghost in a firm grip.

"G-guardian!?"

It squeezed.

"Guardian, stop!"

Ý̷̛̦Ò̶͈U̶̡̡̢͌͘͠ ̸̛̰̯͎͂̓W̷͙͗͠Ê̸̥Ŕ̵͕̾Ĕ̶͉͇̍̚ ̵̺̚M̴̠̭͓̑̉̚Y̶̟̍̀̋ ̸̞̑͝M̴̧͋͋͆Į̸̺͋ͅS̷͈̩͛ͅT̷̬̋̈́̏A̵̺̩̬͌̔̽K̷̗̽̂̑E̸̛͕

C̴͕̫͝Ơ̸̻͍̼͊M̷͎͉̬̉̒Ę̷͌̕ ̵̧̞̏̄B̸̮̤̉͛͝A̶̜͑̔C̶̲̻͒̉K̷̨̰̏͜ ̸̹͐T̵͖͗̄̈Ȍ̷̡͖̣̕ ̸͈̰͛̂͘M̷̳̏Ÿ̶̼̬͍̍ ̸̱͒̈́̓H̵̢̯̪͂̚E̵̪̐̃A̸̩̰̓R̵̞͔͚̆͠T̶̼̠̀̏̃

S̷͙͉̈́̋O̴̝͂͊ ̶̰̀͝Ÿ̴̧̼̜́O̷̜̠̐̈́͗Ú̷̳ ̵̰̟̪̓C̵̟͒A̶̰̿N̶̢͓̯̈̓ ̶͔̜̟͌̑B̶̫́E̸̛̻̣̩̚̚ ̸͙̣̝̏͐Ṟ̸̱̭̄̂Ȇ̴̟̜Ś̶͈H̴̺̓A̷̜͖̐͝P̶̼̫̼̂̎E̴̹̲̙͛͂̈́D̶͔͔̉

"N-no! Guardian, wake up!"

It squeezed harder.

"P-please, don't do this!"

S̶͉̓H̴̜̍U̷͍̕T̵͇̓ ̸͙̿Ŭ̵͙P̴̺͑

"Guardian!"

S̶͉̓H̴̜̍U̷͍̕T̵͇̓ ̸͙̿Ŭ̵͙P̴̺͑

"GUARDIAN!"

A cry of despair, before a crack appeared on its eye. Light emanating from it.

The scent…

It wasn't from its prey…

It came from a familiar.

A familiar who the warlock almost consumed.

…

Ẅ̸̖H̵̩̿Á̷̬T̶̞̕ ̴̻̈Â̷͕R̶͎̐Ē̵̺ ̴͍͘Y̸̧͐Ò̷̙Ǘ̷̲ ̷͕̈́W̴̺͂Ā̷͚I̵͕̐T̷͉̉Ĭ̵͙N̵̜͐Ğ̵̜ ̶̬̾F̸̻̄O̵̻͂R̸̨̈́

D̷̰̒Ê̵̥S̶̞̈T̵̯̽R̶͉̀O̷̡̒Y̴̗̐ ̸͇̃I̷̝̔T̸̞͒

…

They looked around.

A group of Eliksni, all with their weapons raised. Too weak. Won't do.

Shaw Han was distressed, but his reaction didn't matter. He had a massive solar hand cannon in his hand.

That will do.

"G-guardian?"

I'm sorry, ghost.

They blinked towards the hunter quickly. He didn't even have time to react.

They grabbed the golden gun out of his hands before he could shoot it. They'll have the honor instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gun burned their hand. It's alright; they don't have hands. They simply have to aim it up their chin and everything would stop.

N̷͎̆O̶̰̔!̵͈̈́

Forgive me, Traveler.

I won't be your monster

They pulled the trigger.

No more burning.

No more hunger.

No more voices.

No more monster.

Chapter Text

The hunter watched the body of his friend as void and solar energy battled inside and out of them to determine if the warlock would live thanks to the former or be disintegrated by the latter, with no signs of dominance from either side.

“Why…? What did…? What is…?" Shaw muttered.

His ghost quickly flew up his face. “You're in shock, guardian! Snap out of it!”

Despite wanting to do so, Shaw couldn't obey the order. His eyes were completely fixated on whatever this amalgamation before him was, what used to be his dear friend.

"Are they…?" He asked, worried about the answer.

The ghost began to scan the body, before stopping as its sibling slowly limped towards them. They had a nasty crack on its eye and its shell was dented and burnt. It was a miracle that it survived. 

Pitifully, it nuzzled against its guardian’s chest, careless of the risk of possibly burning. "Too much light… too many voices…” it muttered before its eye turned off. The hunter thought that the worst had happened.

“N-no…” the hunter's ghost quickly said. “they're just… resting, if it could even be called that. They're… fine…”

You call that ‘fine’?

The initial shock had passed. Shaw could now look away from the warlock and examine his surroundings. He immediately searched for wherever the Eliksni were.

Fymsel and the other survivors had stood away and watched them from afar. Only a few bruises and burns here and there. Fymsel's marks had de-ignited and only had a few purple sparks. The vandal was probably feeling better physically, but it could be him ignoring the pain as he and the crew watched without any idea of what to do.

"Hey, at least they survived, and extraction is on its way…” his ghost tried to comfort him.

The hunter huffed. “We said that there was only one Eliksni, though. You think they won't mind?”

“We're not that cruel, Shaw…”

The guardian did not say anything.

“What about you?” The ghost asked. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head in a negative. “... A few cuts here and there…”

“Your helmet is burnt, they're not just ‘cuts’, and you know that's not what I'm asking.”

“...”

The hunter sat down as comfortably as he could, and watched the show of orange and purple unfold.

No more words were exchanged between them.

You'll come back, warlock, you always do…

______________

The vandal and his crew were completely lost, with no one knowing what to say or do. The result was a group of Eliksni frozen in place.

“... Well…” One started. “I guess we won…”

“You call that a win?” Another argued. “Our commander is dead and the guardian who helped us seemed to have lost all hope!” He motioned to the lazily sitting guardian. “We'll probably become food for the Hive the next day!”

“Don't be so pessimistic, Randal. Surely a strike of good luck will come to us shortly! Try and look at the good side!” A dreg tried to stop a fight.

“What good side!? Look around you, Greg!” Someone else joined the now unstoppable discussion. “We have nothing! We won nothing! I want you to tell me what good side you can see from this disaster!”

More and more Eliksni joined the fight, with more seeing the crude reality they were facing than the hopeful ones trying to lift each other's spirits.

Fymsel stood there, completely uncaring of anything happening around him. Questions without answers plagued his mind like blight to the taken.

They killed themselves, why? Why harm the small machine helping them? Why de-ignite my marks? Were they even a monster? They killed my crew, they killed Suprex and who knows how many more! 

So why… why would they just…?

… And could I have stopped any of this…?

The sounds of arguing and Fymsel's thoughts were interrupted by the loud yell of a ship's engine, a human ship. Many Eliksni pointed at it, some happy, others scared. Many took their arms and took aim at it while others tried to stop them.

Fymsel just stared at it, feeling indifferent. He looked at the hunter who was still staring at the body of his friend, as indifferent as him.

Something suddenly clicked inside the vandal's head; extraction was coming for them, to save them.

“Don't shoot!” He yelled desperately at his brothers. “They're allies, like Cho Jan! They'll help us, I'm sure!”

It took time for the others to calm down, most of them seemingly disappointed by the fact that a glorious death wasn't awaiting them while others sighed in relief.

“Are you sure they aren't here to finish the job?” The one they called Randal asked angrily, sowing doubts among the crew. 

“Why would they? Unless we ask for death, we shouldn't be worried.” Said Greg. “Right, Fymsel?”

The group turned to him.

“Yes, they should…”

That didn't help the survivors calm down.

____________

“Shaw, they're here.” The ghost tried getting its guardian’s attention.

The hunter turned away from the body to look at the ship approaching. The vehicle made its landing, throwing dust all around it.

The compartment opened, and two guardians exited out of it, followed by some civilians and House Light Eliksni.

“Shaw!” One said happily. “I thought the worst had happened to you! You went offline for so long! What did you say about this 3 day operation taking only one?” He laughed afterwards.

His companion shot her elbow to his stomach, before pointing at the body of a warlock, with their ghost still nuzzling against their chest.

“Oh… I see…” The first one muttered.

“Where is Cas and Maeve?” The other asked.

Shaw lifted his head slowly, before shaking it and looking down again.

The female guardian turned to the civilians and shouted an order, making them rush back inside the ship. The male guardian sent his ghost to scan the body, while the House Light Eliksni rushed to the survivors to aid them.

The ghost returned to its guardian and shook its shell. Shortly after, the field workers came from the ship with some sort of floating gurney.

“Don't touch them. They're actually burning.” The guardian warned. “I'll lift them up myself.”

The carriers nodded and left the gurney before retreating back to the ship.

The guardian's partner approached Shaw carefully and sat beside him. “You've gone through a lot, hunter, and you've done well. It's time to return to the Tower. I'll fill in with Zavala and Mithrax for you, don't worry. They might even give you a new helme-”

“AGH! FUCK!” The duo turned to the guardian yelling as he shook his cooked hands. “I mean… uh… can you lend me a hand?”

His partner sighed. She got up and lifted both arms, making the body of the warlock levitate, before tucking them on top of the gurney.

“C'mon, Shaw, we're done here.” She offered her hand to the guardian.

The hunter hesitated for a moment, before accepting it and following the duo to the ship.

____________

The crew watched their distant relatives rushing towards them. Their colors were different from theirs, but it didn't matter in the end.

“See? They brought help!” Someone yelled, almost taunting the hopeless ones. All bursted into cheering, however.

One of them stopped on his tracks, confused. “Uhh, Misraaks Kell said that we only had to extract one Eliksni…” A member of House Light whispered to the others.

Every single member of the crew stopped their celebration and turned to the other house. Everyone heard what he said.

“B-but! We can make room for all of you! Infact…” He began searching inside his bag hastily. “We brought extra bottles of ether, just in case!” He lied.

The crew nodded and exchanged words of relief between them. But Fymsel didn't feel like being helped.

The helping house shared whatever reserves of ether they had to the crew. One of the members noticed Fymsel's lack of bottle and approached him.

“Here, take- by the light!” He exclaimed as he saw the vandal's scars.

“What? Never been attacked by a guardian before? Were you born in the safety of the Tower instead of having to survive from scraps?” He asked aggressively.

A worried look on the Eliksni’s face gave Fymsel his answers. “I-I… umm… is there anything I can-?”

“No, I'll just hop on board.” The vandal made his way to the ship.

“O-on the city we can find a way to help you! Maybe a guardian-!”

Fymsel locked away the Eliksni's voice, he didn't want anything else to do with guardians.

___________

“I know you’re still there.”

…

“I don't blame you for anything that's happened.”

…

“If you can hear me, please say something, anything.”

…

“Why do you refuse my help?”

…

“I can help you! I still have the light to-!”

Shut up.

Please.

Just shut up.

“...”

The light isn't the power of good.

It corrupts and unleashes only pain to those around you.

My duty was to fight the darkness, wasn't it?

“Y-yes…”

How do we know that the light is good and the darkness is bad?

That voice, the Traveler, they wanted a monster.

And I was the ‘lucky’ one.

“You can hear the-!”

SHUT UP!

I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF ANYTHING THAT STUPID BALL FORCES ME TO DO.

How many have I harmed by just following their command?

How many more will I harm if I continue to obey!?

Stop trying to resurrect me, I don't want to hear its disturbing voice ever again.

“But-”

Please.

Let me rest.

Please…

“...”

“... I can't…”

…

“They're bringing us to the Tower, and they'll want answers to everything you've done.”

So they can then execute me?

“So they can help you! You're not the only guardian who has been troubled by your powers. You can be trained in its arts for the better and-”

What better?

Will I be trained to kill more?

To devour the enemies of humanity?

Will I exchange being the lap dog of a god for another?

“...”

“There's someone there who can help you. Someone who I've yet to mention…”

…

“Her name is Ikora Rey. She's a warlock like you, and probably more powerful than you.”

…?

“If she can't help you, then you win, and I'll let you… rest. Sounds good?”

…

Fine…

“Thank you.”

_______________

(...)

The trip to the Tower was long, or at least, that's how Shaw felt it. It probably was just him, or maybe sticking your eyes in the same place for too long somehow made time drag on longer than usual.

“Shaw, you haven't stopped looking at the warlock since you sat down.” His ghost said with concern. No one has spoken a word to him, thinking that he needed space. “Can I do anything to help you?”

The hunter looked at the machine, soulless. “No, I'm fine.”

“You and I know that's not true. I'm your ghost, your soulmate, you can tell me anything and I won't judge you.”

“...”

“C'mon, Shaw…”

“...I've already mourned two friends, and now I fail to protect both the new light and the Eliksni. How many have died because of me? Because of my… failures?”

“You haven't failed, Shaw. No one, probably not even Ikora could've foreseen what you were getting into.”

“But what if I did something differently? What if, instead of rushing up the stairs that time a cursed thrall ambushed me, I waited and took it down to help the warlock protect my team? What if I hadn't wasted time taking care of Fymsel and went straight to help them when they raised the antenna? What about our battle with Navôta? What if I hadn't forgotten that Fymsel was at the camp? What if-?”

“Stop. That's in the past now, and we're in the present now. As I said, you couldn't have known what was gonna happen, and if you ask me, I'd say that we've gotten the best outcome we could have.”

“...”

The hunter went back to staring at his fallen friend, their ghost turned off and still laying on their chest. Thankfully, both void and solar flames had gone out, lessening the risk of an emergency.

It might have been just him, but he could've sworn that the warlock had… flinched?

____________

“Are you sure I can't help you with anything?”

For the third time, Fymsel waved the member of House Light away, saying he didn't need any help. The Eliksni walked away, obviously annoyed at his stubbornness.

“Declining help from others is considered rude, you know?”

The vandal turned his head towards the voice. A lesser captain that had survived the onslaught.

He didn't pay him no mind, and returned to watching the floor instead.

“Suprex, he was a brave captain, the bravest I've ever had the honor of fighting alongside with.” He continued.

“...”

“We fought many battles together, along with other brave Eliksni ready to give their lives for the sake of glory.”

“Well, I guess most of them got what they wanted, didn't they?” Fymsel joked darkly.

The captain chuckled. “Indeed…”

The silence between them that ensued after made Fymsel uncomfortable. Just who was this guy?

“I remember a fight he had with a… special guardian…”

The vandal did not turn, but because he had nothing better to do, he might as well listen.

“They were impregnated in this… black stuff. They muttered incoherences and they most definitely did not use the light.”

A guardian that doesn't use the light? And what is this… ‘black stuff'...?

“At the time I was merely a vandal, just like you. Their fight was both beautiful and horrifying, especially since Suprex wielded two sabers at the time.

«Suprex definitely had a hard time beating them, and even when he did, the guardian had one last trick up their sleeve.

«Poor cap had been infected with this blight. But he didn't just retire and let this illness eat him from within! No. We traveled far and all around the system of Sol. Our goal: find a cure, or the best time of our lives. And I'd say we definitely got the latter.»

Suprex was a legend among his crew. Despite being terminally ill, he decided to spend the rest of his days fearlessly exploring the system. No wonder he and others didn't fear death.

If only I could achieve that level of bravery…

“Why are you telling me this?” Fymsel asked once the captain finished.

“Haha! Why am I telling you this? Suprex declared me his second in command, but I would never be able to reach a title as high as his.” He answered. “My days in space are over, I've had enough adventure to last me a lifetime and this city seems like the best place to spend the rest of my life.”

After all you've been through, I'm not surprised.

“But you,” He continued. “You're still young, and already bear some impressive battle scars! While I know that some of this crew would like to lay down their arms, there's still some with a thirst for adventure. And you, vandal, you seem like the best choice to lead them to the adventure they desire, or should I say… captain?” He smirked behind his mask.

Fymsel was left dumbfounded. He had no experience with leadership! He had just gotten out of the Dreg rank before his previous crew got wiped out! And this captain, who had more years of experience he could ever dream of reaching, thought he was worthy of the Captain title?

“I… I'll… think about it…” Fymsel stuttered. The captain smiled.

Chapter Text

[Attention crew, we'll be arriving at our destination shortly]

The titan approached Shaw and put a hand on his shoulder, releasing a singular word. “Ready?”. The hunter nodded. 

“Seems like his adventure has finally come to an end.” His ghost said internally. “Are you sure you want to debrief with Zavala? The others are willing to do all the paperwork for you.”

“I’ll speak with Zavala later. I just want to bring my friend here back.”

[Arriving at the Courtyard]

“You can go home, Shaw.” The guardian told him. “We'll take it from here.”

“No, you go inform Zavala. I'll get the warlock some help.”

The titan looked at the body, then at the hunter, apologetically. “Shaw, I don't think that-”

His words were cut off as the warlock's ghost suddenly released a burst of light, cleansing away the solar and void energy that still battled over their body.

The guardian suddenly sat up, launching their ghost which would have crashed against the wall if it wasn't because it started flying. A very shaken flight.

They felt around their head as if it had disappeared. They then turned to look at the fellow guardians staring at them.

The titan was first to talk. “What the fuck?”

________________

“I knew you would come back, new light.” The hunter said, relieved.

They're back.

Their ghost really brought them back.

They looked around, panicked. This wasn't the Cosmodrome. Was this a ship? Why the white colors? It made their head hurt more than usual.

“Alright, buddy.” The unknown person said. “You must've been through a lot, especially for a new light.” He slowly walked towards them. “Let me help you out and-”

DON'T TOUCH ME!!

Their palm released a threatening purple light. It wasn't like anything the titan had ever seen. Void light is supposed to be volatile against its enemies, not the user. The palm looked like it was about to explode.

“Whoa, okay. Calm down.” The guardian took a careful step back, showing his hands to let them know they weren't a threat. “There's no need to blow up this ship, or the Tower, while we're at it.”

The Tower?

They were in the Tower.

I've gotta get out of here!!

They jumped off the weird table they were on, and they would've ran outside into the unknown if it weren't because the moment they set a foot on the ground, all of their strength left them.

So… weak…

They would've crumbled to the ground if it weren't for their friend in need, the hunter. “It's okay, warlock. No one is going to hurt you and you won't hurt anyone. Okay?”

Their ghost pitifully flew to their side. “They suppressed my light. You shouldn't be able to lose control now…” The small machine then plummeted to the ground, almost impacting against it if it weren't for the warlock barely able to grab it in a gentle hold before it happened.

“Which is why we're bringing Ikora Rey to you immediately.” A third guardian entered their vision. Was she also a warlock? “You shouldn't have been able to ignite your palm, even less with enough power to blow us all up. I had to increase the power of the suppressive field almost to max.”

Thankfully it was just them inside the room. The titan still glanced around, worried that panic may spread.

“I'll bring them to Ikora.” Said the hunter, already starting to sprint towards the exit with the warlock still in his grasp.

“Not so fast, hunter.” The titan stopped them. “Didn't you hear? You're talking about bringing a nuclear weapon outside, where thousands of guardians and civilians live. I'll tell Ikora to meet us here instead, where we can then lift off into space.”

The hunter was clearly annoyed by this, but he still backed away from the door, which the titan then exited from.

“Take the Eliksni with you. Zavala and Mithrax are waiting for them outside.” The female warlock added. Her partner lifted a thumbs up to them before the door closed behind him.

The Eliksni…

How many survived…?

_________________

“Alright everyone.” A guardian entered the already crowded room. “We have arrived at our destination. Mithrax is outside waiting for you. Try to not start a fight!” He joked.

Fymsel scoffed to himself. Of course the guardian would think that they would start genociding everyone the moment they set foot out into the City, even when twelve or more guardians were waiting for them outside.

Everyone picked up their things and followed the guardian outside. The Tower was brimming with people, most of them guardians, which made many crew members nervous. Two people were waiting for them right outside the hatch: an Eliksni and a guardian with blue skin.

The House Light Eliksni sheepishly walked forward before kneeling before their Kell. “Forgive us, Misraaks Kell. There were more survivors who needed our aid besides the one who the guardian informed. We hope that this doesn't result in an inconvenience.”

Misraaks looked at the kneeling Eliksni in disappointment. He never enjoyed being treated as some sort of king. “Rise, brave ones. Go get the skiff ready.” The Eliksni rose to their feet and rushed to the hangar.

“Welcome, Eliksni.” The Kell spoke to the survivors. “I am Misraaks, Kell of House Light. This guardian here is commander Zavala, leader of the vanguard and the guardians. We will bring you to your new home.”

Everyone bowed in respect, making Misraaks feel even more uncomfortable.

“But before that,” The commander interrupted. “We were told of a guardian who seems to ‘have gone feral’...” Nervous glances were exchanged between the crew. Fymsel's heartbeat had increased. “I suppose you know what happened to them?”

The titan took a step forward. “Commander, the guardian seems to be dangerous in their current state.” He whispered. “I'm on my way to Ikora to ask for her help. Can we discuss this later?”

Zavala raised an eyebrow, but did not ask anymore questions. “Very well. Mithrax, can you take these Eliksni to the district? I'm needed somewhere else.”

“It will be my pleasure, Commander.” The Kell turned to the survivors. “There's a skiff waiting for us at the hangar. Let's go.” Misraaks turned around and began walking away, the Eliksni followed him.

“We'll finally have a permanent home.” A dreg said. “No offense, but I really miss having a place that I can call ‘home'.”

“I can't believe we're in the Last City!” A vandal marveled. “I’ve only dreamt of being here, even less living inside it!”

While various Eliksni shared their thoughts, the captain from earlier approached Fymsel. “A place to call home… What do you think of it?” He asked.

Fymsel thought about it for a long minute. “It doesn't feel right to me… living among guardians, no longer being able to explore the system…”

He felt a palm land on his shoulder. “You're just like the many young Eliksni here. I'm sure you'll find a way to bring them all together to form a new crew.”

“Yeah… probably…”

Now in the Hangar, the survivors boarded the skiff waiting for them, and set course to the Eliksni district.

________________

“So, where did you meet this guy… gal… whatever?” The warlock asked, motioning to the weakened guardian.

“It's a long story. Trust me, you don't want to hear it.” Shaw answered.

“I'm not asking about your experience, just how you met them.” She corrected.

The hunter looked at her, annoyed. “They showed up while I was patrolling the area. Happy?”

Despite the helmet, Shaw could feel her raising an eyebrow. “That's it? They just… showed up? Nothing crazy happened before you met them?”

 A knock against the gurney got their attention. The void lock raised their palm with the ghost on top of it. “They ask if you'll keep talking as if we weren't here.” The ghost said.

“Fascinating…” The warlock muttered. “Are they mute?” She asked the hunter.

Shaw hesitated for a moment before looking at his friend for help. Of course, they didn't do anything. “I don't know…” He shrugged.

The female guardian turned to their ghost instead. “If they are, infact, mute, can't you fix it? We don't have any disabilities because we have them fixed with our first resurrection."

The ghost remained nested on the hand. “I… I can't… and I don't know why…”

The warlock huffed in annoyment. “This won't get us anywhere. We probably have one of the most powerful guardians here, and we don't know how or why they were made this way.”

The suppressed guardian suddenly put their free hand on their head, as if they were suddenly suffering from the most powerful of headaches. Warlock, hunter and ghost sprung off of their seats, the ghost nesting besides it's guardian.

“What's happening to them!?” The female guardian asked, panicking as she noticed their body glowing a menacing purple.

Unwanted memories suddenly flashed before Shaw's mind.

This is where our story ends, o’ bearer mine.

“No. This can't be happening. Increase the potency of the suppressor, now!”

“I can't! Their ghost might die if I do so!”

“Then get the ship away from here!”

________________

So…

Loud…

P̷̥̀̉̚L̴̛̥̗͔͗E̴̟̻̿͐Ȃ̶̹͉ͅS̵̭̘͉̿̾E̵͚̠̗̒͝

Y̴̳̻͠Ờ̵̞U̴̠̔̓̎ ̶̹̹̪͛͛C̸̙̲̽A̸͙̳̿ͅN̸͖̆̇̐ͅ'̶͌͂͘ͅŢ̸͆ ̵̦̺͐̀L̴̇ͅË̴̳͎̺́T̷̲̞̝̒̈̓ ̵̭̞̽ͅṮ̷̱̾ͅH̶͖͗͜E̶͉̣̔̕̚͜M̷͍͆

P̷̥̀̉̚L̴̛̥̗͔͗E̴̟̻̿͐Ȃ̶̹͉ͅS̵̭̘͉̿̾E̵͚̠̗̒͝

I can't let them what?

I̴̟̩̩̎̈́ ̸̨̒̃N̵͚̒É̶̱̯̈́ͅE̸͎̍̀́Ď̷̲͒ ̶͔͉̿̎Å̴̛̳̓ ̶͙̟͒͜G̴̟̟̽U̴̩̼̽̑Å̵̝̳̃͝Ṟ̶̟̥̋̌̄D̴̡̼̳͋̚̚Ȉ̷̮͕̕A̸̬͋͒N̴̤͈̽̏ ̸͍̫͙̌

P̷̥̀̉̚L̴̛̥̗͔͗E̴̟̻̿͐Ȃ̶̹͉ͅS̵̭̘͉̿̾E̵͚̠̗̒͝

D̷̤̀O̵͉̐Ń̶͍̫̕'̷̗͔̃T̴̮̮͑ ̶͉̙͔̍̔L̸͖̂̑E̵̪̺͌̈͑T̶̯̄ͅ ̴̰͖̃T̸̜̆͝͠H̷̢͔̾̀Ȩ̸͆͌̂M̶̡̩͚̎̈́̄

Why should I listen to you?

You've made my second life a living hell!

For all I care, I could commit a final death on myself if it means bringing you down with me!

N̶̨͔̓Ö̴̞̋̚!̸̦̙̆̔

N̶̺̥̈́o̶̰̹͇͛͛̾

Ṕ̴̥̂̕l̴̨͖̲̚ea̷̯͒̚se̵̳̟͈̕

I̵̺̗͠ͅ ̷͙̝́ n̸̹̻̫̍ee̷͙̍̉̚d ̶̙͘yö̸̼́̔́u

Ṕ̴̥̂̕l̴̨͖̲̚ea̷̯͒̚se̵̳̟͈̕

“What is going on here!”

A female voice pulled them out of their thoughts. The male guardian had come back along with a warlock, it seemed. Upon laying eyes on them, the guardian flew towards them, almost scaring them off the gurney.

“Get the civilians out of here and bring us to orbit, Now!”

Both nameless guardians exited the room to follow her command.

“What about me?” The hunter asked.

“You say you are close with them, right?”

He nodded, worried.

“Then I need you here.” She turned back to the warlock. “You'll be alright. My name is Ikora Rey, vanguard leader of the warlocks. I will help you.”

Chapter Text

Fymsel took a deep breath as he felt the skiff's flight come to an end.

“Outside, the Eliksni district awaits you.” Misraaks told to the new residents.

The once-vandal watched as the hatch to the outside opened, revealing a small, yet calm place where Eliksni thrived. 

It was… beautiful…

“Please forgive me, newcomers.” The Kell said. “But I have some important errands to attend and time isn't exactly on my side. Feel free to explore as you like.” He soon disappeared into transmatt dust.

Outside, many residents greeted them, be it Eliksni or humans. Most of the crew accepted the warm welcome with open arms, others ignored it and went straight to exploring their new home.

But Fymsel stayed inside the ship. He grazed a hand over his marks in worry.

“What would they think of me…?” He muttered to himself.

He jumped as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, the shock of it disappearing as soon as he realized that it was the same captain from before.

“We all have to start from somewhere. This is the beginning of your new adventure. Besides, one like you cannot go unnoticed; you did go through hell and back!” He laughed.

Fymsel smiled at this. He now has all the time in the world and he won't have a hard time planning his next move when he's ready. No more need to worry about genocidal guardians now. 

“What will you do now?” He asked the captain.

He laughed even harder at this. “Rest, of course! I can't remember the last time I had a good night of sleep!” His tone got softer as he looked at the rising captain. “You should do the same, it's been a very long day.” 

With a final pat on his back, the captain left Fymsel and went to receive the welcome party. The vandal watched as the Eliksni followed a member of House Light possibly to his new home.

“I suppose that I should also look for a place to stay…” he pondered.

He exchanged some handshakes with Eliksni and humans alike upon leaving the skiff, completely uncaring of the worried glances they sent their way. His calm attitude helped ease the mood.

Another member of House Light offered to guide him to his place, but Fymsel refused. He wanted to explore the district further by himself.

_______________

“Your connection with the void is strong, warlock. For a newly risen guardian, this can be dangerous, but I can help you control it.” Ikora’s voice was soft as to not startle the guardian. “First, let me tell you the basics about the void…”

The warlock nodded as Ikora began explaining the mysterious power: it is a powerful energy that should be treated carefully and mindfully. If one gets careless with it, they might be consumed by it.

But that's not what's happening to me, isn't it?

.̵͇͐.̶̞͍͑͝.̶̨̗̏͘

N̶̝̤͛o.̵͇͐..̶̨̗̏͘

Ṕ̴̥̂̕l̴̨͖̲̚ea̷̯͒̚se̵̳̟͈̕, I̵̺̗͠ͅ ̷͙̝́ n̸̹̻̫̍ee̷͙̍̉̚d ̶̙͘yö̸̼́̔́ur̶̺̲̉ ̵̘͊͛ḧ̸̡́ë̴̺̙́ḷ̷̀͠ͅp̵͈̮̉ ̸̞̾́Ǹ̵͚̙̉Ǫ̵̋̇W̸̢̅͠ ̶͕̐

“You seem to be deeply attuned with it.” The vanguard leader put a hand under her chin. “And it's also quite interesting that this is happening in a moment like this…”

If only I were the one attuned with it…

Í̷̮͇̕ k̷͔͎̅̆no̷̠͐w ̷̗̏̓t̴̨̜̑̾hã̶͎̞͒t ̸͔̉̀Ĩ̶̥͊ ȍ̷̳̖ẅ̷͕̯́̌e ̷͍͑yọ̷́u ̷̢̗̏n̵̛͕̯o̷̗͔͐̚th̷͕̓iň̷̞͖̓g

B̶̦̋ut̸̜͎͊

Ṕ̴̥̂̕l̴̨͖̲̚ea̷̯͒̚se̵̳̟͈̕

“Shaw, you said that they tried to…” her expression cringed while trying to get the words out. “Crush… their own ghost?”

The hunter's face paled a bit as he nodded.

You were willing to kill your own child if it meant that you would have full control over me…

..̶̞͍͑͝.̶̨̗̏͘

“Forgive me for a moment.” Ikora said as she turned her attention to the comms. “Yes Zavala, what is it?”

H̸̺͚̔̍el̶̠̊͝p.̵͇͐.̶̞͍͑͝.̶̨̗̏͘ m̵͎̳̓e.̵͇͐.̶̞͍͑͝.̶̨̗̏͘

“WHAT!?” Everyone in the room jumped at her exclamation.

Ḯ̸̫͓͝t...̶̨̗̏͘ h̴̙̋urt̸̳̫̐̈́s̵̨̗̒̌..̶̞͍͑͝.̶̨̗̏͘

“The Traveler!” The hunter's ghost jumped.

The room's door suddenly opened, letting in a very worried warlock. “Forgive my intrusion, Ikora, but you must see this!”

The vanguard leader rushed out of the room. The hunter and the warlock grabbed the suppressed guardian and carried them out. Their ghost seemed to have renewed its strength and followed them too.

What is this all about?

The group carried them into the cockpit, where they saw…

W-what…?

No…

________________

Everyone in the cockpit watched in awe the disturbing act unfolding before their eyes.

The Traveler, their protector and savior, the most powerful entity known to humanity, was being ripped open by the Witness.

Shaw has seen many things that would scare even the fiercest of warriors. It was an obligatory side effect of being a guardian, after all.

But seeing this…

Everyone's attention returned to the warlock as they let them know visually that they were suffering another headache. 

However, this one seemed different.

Five seconds passed. The warlock lifted their head to meet the others, before looking around as if searching for something.

They laid eyes on their ghost.

“They want me to… speak for them…” it said, dumbfounded. “The Traveler is… is speaking to them!”

______________

“For many years, I've been wandering the universe, in search of a safe place for me to stay.”

“I've brought bloom and doom to many races and civilizations. I remember each one of them, and I blame myself for the death of each one of them because of my cowardness.”

“I needed to find a way to end the end of any more systems by any means.”

“And I believed that the only way to fight a monster…”

“Was with another monster…”

“I let my selfishness get the best of me. I was driven by fear and anger.”

“And the results were…”

“I don't deserve to be forgiven, even less to ask for a favour after all I've done.”

“But please, guardian.”

“If you don't stop the Witness from creating the Final Shape, the results may be catastrophic."

“If you don't want to do it for me…”

“Then please, do it for your loved ones…”

“Good luck, my guardian.”

________________

The warlock fainted shortly after, crashing against the hard floor before Shaw could catch them.

Everyone was left speechless from what just happened. First the warlock's unusual attunement with the void, then the Traveler, now this.

“I can't bring them back, but they're still alive…” Their ghost muttered, breaking the silence.

The hunter turned to Ikora. “Well, what do we do now?”

The warlock looked at him in the eyes, determination on hers. “We help the guardian stop the Final Shape…”

Chapter Text

"You wanted to see me, commander?” Shaw asked as he entered Zavala’s office. The commander was looking out the window, marveling at all the ships standing ready in the sky.

“Indeed.” He said as he turned to the hunter. “I called you here to talk about your latest report and the Cosmodrome.” Shaw cringed internally as he thought that he would have to tell his story again.

“It’s not about what you experienced in the mission, the recovery team has already told me that part.” Zavala added upon noticing the hunter's distress. “It's about your petition to ‘go back into the field as soon as possible’.”

The air Shaw had inhaled left him as he realized what this meeting was about. “Indeed, commander. I don't want to sit in my house doing nothing while the system is in grave danger.”

Zavala raised an eyebrow at this. “Are you sure? From what I've been told, your experience in the Cosmodrome may have left you scars that would take time to get used to.”

“That's the thing, commander. I want to go back to the Cosmodrome, and guide new lights into the Tower.”

Zavala's expression changed from confused to shocked, only to nod at the hunter's request. “I see. Well, I can't change a decision that you seem so determined to fulfill.” Shaw's face beamed a smile at this. “But before you go, I want you to answer me one final question…”

The hunter waited for a few long seconds that seemed like hours to him, almost wanting to jump out the window and make a run for the Cosmodrome.

“What is the actual reason that you want to go guide new lights?”

Shaw stared blankly at the commander for a minute, completely taken aback by the question.

“Because…” he began. “It's because…”

We now need more guardians in the field more than ever.

I want to completely rid the Cosmodrome from Hive.

I don't want any more new lights to suffer what the warlock suffered.

“I made a promise to myself, and to my old fireteam…” he settled. “I'll make sure that the Cosmodrome becomes a safe place for new lights and peaceful Eliksni alike.”

Zavala smiled with satisfaction. “Very well, Shaw. A team will make sure that you have all the equipment required for your new work as a sentinel. You may start whenever you feel like you're ready for it. You may dismiss, hunter.” The commander turned back to the window to marvel once more on all the allies ready to fight for humanity.

“Thank you, commander.” Shaw nodded in gratitude before exiting the office, only turning back to say one last thing. “I won't disappoint you.”

_____________

Fymsel watched as the clock from the bar landed at midnight. Despite having helped many fellow Eliksni with their errands, he didn't feel tired yet. He gulped down another bottle of ether.

Someone took a seat on the stool beside him, ordering a round before turning to him. “You're Fymsel, right?” 

The vandal turned to the stranger. A wretch with an interesting fashion choice, wearing various spikes on his back.

“Who's asking?” Fymsel whispered once the bartender left the hearing range.

“We heard of you, and my master believes that you and your thirst for adventure might be what we're looking for…” the wretch grabbed the drink and gulped it in one quick swing before standing up. “You should follow, or else we might kidnap you at night…”

He then nonchalantly walked towards the exit. Driven more by curiosity rather than concern, Fymsel quickly followed him outside.

“What's this about?” He asked once he reached the stranger. “I thought that this was a peaceful place, where Eliksni could thrive without fear of getting robbed.”

The wretch said nothing, only coming to a stop once he arrived at a strange building. He knocked at the door in a specific rhythm, as if it were some sort of code. The door opened on its own. None of this helped ease Fymsel's nerves.

“You followed.” The stranger finally spoke. “Good. Master is waiting for you here.” He entered the building, leaving the door behind him open.

“... Ah, fuck it. I'm already too deep into this anyway…” The vandal muttered as he followed the wretch inside.

The door closed behind him as soon as he set foot inside. A long corridor before him was the only way he could go now and the stranger was nowhere to be seen.

For the entire walk, Fymsel expected to be shanked by the same or a different wretch, stealing whatever he had on him and letting him bleed out as they ran off. Luckily, that never happened.

Instead, once he reached the end of the corridor, he found himself face to face with a large Eliksni, protected by two bodyguards and the wretch that brought him here. Various mechanical arms decorated him, almost as if he were some sort of…

“Welcome, Fymsel. I've been expecting you…” he spoke softly. “You can call me The Spider.”

Fymsel watched as the Spider tossed a cube of glimmer to the hands of the wretch before this one ran off to the unknown.

“You see, Fymsel, I'm quite good at making friends, and let's just say that a friend of mine shared some info of a special vandal who faced a special guardian, and survived…” His voice was a very messy mix between one of a trusted friend you could count on and a lying bastard that would stab you in the back when you least expect it. The vandal guessed that one side leaned better against the other depending if you were on his good or bad side.

Fymsel looked around the room, searching for any sort of weapon or exit he could use if things got heated. “Well, what do you want me to say? That the story is true?” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Oh, no, none of that.” The Spider waved away his guess. “You can prove your story on the battlefield. It would be much more interesting if you showed what you survived against rather than telling a fairy tale.” 

The vandal was caught completely off guard by this. Was he proposing what he was thinking of?

The Spider inched closer towards him. “What do you say, Fymsel? Do you want to join my crew?”

________________

“Say, you never told me how it feels.”

The warlock and their ghost sat inside Ikora’s personal library. Many books were on top of the table in front of them, talking about the Traveler and the light.

How it feels what, exactly?

Having many voices in my head, you mean?

Their ghost laid on top of the table, watching its guardian with great interest. Ever since their arrival, Ikora had given them access to her library for them to better understand what was going on while she was away.

“Well, besides that, what do you feel when the Traveler speaks to you?”

…

It feels… weird…

But at least it doesn't feel uncomfortable.

“I made sure to make our link as comfortable as possible.”

“After all I made you go through, it's the least I can do in my current situation.”

The dim lighting of the room and its calm atmosphere would've made anyone drowsy at this point, especially at this hour. But the warlock's thirst for knowledge and added chat in between helped them stay conscious.

“They're speaking to you right now, aren't they?”

Yes. They say that they're trying to make it as bearable as possible.

As for having extra voices in my head, I've gotten used to it.

“Your void body is easily adaptable.”

“There are many benefits to having an incorporeal body.”

…

The warlock took their eyes away from the book for a moment and put their attention on their ghost instead. They grazed the crack it had on its eye, made by…

“You shouldn't worry about it; i-it doesn't even hurt anymore! Infact, I hung out with other ghosts today and they said that they were jealous of my ‘battle scar'!”

…

If only I had known what I was before it happened…

The warlock's head hung low as they remembered how the ghost got its ‘battle scar'. Their companion noticed their low mood and nuzzled against their hand in an attempt of comfort.

…

Traveler, I have a question…

“Ask, my guardian.”

Did I use to be… ‘someone’?

Every guardian had a past life. They may not remember it that well, but it exists.

But I try to look back and…

There's nothing…

“...”

“You weren't the one who lost their memories.”

“Your ghost didn't know how to be a ghost because they were the one who lost its memories.”

“I fooled them by making them believe that they were raising a deceased person.”

“But they were instead focusing all of its light into making a fully functional being.”

“One made of void.”

“You were made to be the perfect guardian.”

“But I did not expect you to develop feelings.”

“This allowed you to gain a fully functioning consciousness.”

“And while for a moment I cursed you, your ghost and all those around you because of it.”

“Now I'm grateful that you managed to find loved ones that you can protect.”

“I thank you for showing me the light in my darkest time.”

…

Thank you, for giving me life, Traveler.

“Ah, you're still awake, guardian. Good.” The warlock turned around while their ghost floated into the air to meet their mentor.

“Hello Ikora.” The ghost greeted. “Will we continue our training?” 

“Not now. I've come for something else. A gift, if you will.” She showed the warlock a white mask with black markings. “This mask used to belong to a close friend of mine and of everyone. He also had the gift of speaking for the Traveler.”

The guardian watched as the vanguard leader approached them. “His name was the Speaker, and while many did not believe that he did have that gift, his death during the Red War affected all of us.” 

She handed them the relic. “He would be proud to know that his mask is now used by someone who really is gifted with that bloom.”

The warlock stared at the mask in their hands for a moment, before looking up to Ikora and nodding in appreciation.