Chapter Text
The Vex gathered around the Black Heart, arms spread in silent supplication. The Garden grew around them and on them, marking them at its own with moss, turning their once pristine metal shells verdant with itself.
Unknown to them, was the fact that there was someone besides the Heart observing their unending prayers. A figure lay up on the cliffs above, laying on her stomach with a sniper rifle in the crook of her arm, eye resting on the scope.
She has also been here for some time. Perhaps day. Perhaps a millennium.
She used to murmur things to her Ghost, and he would give acknowledging chirps, but that was... some time ago. Now they were quiet. The Guardian's shoulder length blue hair fluttered freely on the breeze. She didn't have anything to tie it up with. I wasn't long enough to warrant it when she first entered the Garden.
A vine snuck across her sniper, blocking half of the scope.
The Guardian didn't move. She has gotten used to the vines.
The heart pulsed. The Vex worshiped. She observed. Distantly she was starting to think coming here might not have been such a great idea, but the air in the garden was sweet, and the ground was soft, and she couldn't find it in herself to care.
A vine curled around her ear and started whispering secrets.
Suddenly, the portal leading to the room opened and someone stepped out from within.
The Vex, who have not abandoned their prayers for what could've have been since the dawn of time, came to life with shuddering motions and all as one looked to the entrance.
Above them their watcher also came to life with a jolt.
"Fuck-" she murmured blinking rapidly as if waking from a nap. "'Pit, you there?" she slurred out.
"I'm here Skaia." The Ghost's voice in contrast was clear as he floated up from where it was resting on the small of his guardian's back spinning his shell to cut off the few vines that dared to crawl on top of him.
"We've got a-" Skaia paused, the only word coming to her head as she moved her gun slightly to look at the person who just entered the room being: 'heretic.'
"Think you can kill a god?"
Skaia rubbed her hear on the butt of the sniper rifle annoyed, dislodging the vine there and finished her thought: "a guest."
"Huh. Didn't think anybody would risk delving this far." Prospit commented
"Don't think I have a choice."
Skaia gave a hum, wiggling her gun to dislodge the vine curled around the scope.
By the time she managed that, the other Guardian was already in the process of shooting her way through the horde of the Vex between her and the heart.
Skaia followed her progress through her scope, giving an appreciative 'oohs' and 'uuhs' when the hunter pulled off a particularly good shot or knife throw.
"We should help her." Prospit said.
Skaia hummed. She really didn't want to get up. "If she needs it."
Prospit didn't argue, but he also did not try to disguise the worry flowing from him through their mental link.
Skaia have a half hearted snap of her teeth. Her Ghosts was correct of course. She has underestimated the thrall of the Garden and should really be doing her best to leave ASAP, but the fact that she knew she was under a thrall didn't necessarily help.
It didn't change how soft the ground was, how the air smelled of rain, the soothing whispers on the edge of the hearing, or the drowsiness that permeated her body.
That was the most dangerous thing about being under a thrall of something so much more powerful than yourself. It didn't feel bad. In fact it felt amazing. And Skaia knew better than anyone, that even if she managed to get up and walk out of the Garden right now, part of her would always belong to the Garden. And that part would always yearn to come back
As she was thinking the hunter fought her way to the Heart and it activated its last line of defense. Two huge Vex... fuck what they were called?
Skaia felt a flicker of annoyance as she racked her brain for the name of the Vex type that stood between the hunter and the heart. Her higher brain pounced on that annoyance doing her best to dredge it up, and fan it into an inferno. See how this diminishes you? She yelled at herself. See how less you are for it? Fight!
"She does look like she needs help," Prospit said tensely.
Indeed the hunter bellow was was backing up frantically into cover plinking away one of the - minotaurs, that's what they were called, with her primary.
Skaia gave a snarl and jumped to her feet.
Or at least she tried to.
Layers of vines stretched, curled around her arms, legs, some growing from within her robes and intertwining with the others. The thrall of the Garden, materialized.
Skaia swore as Prospit started to hack away at the vines.
Beneath them, one of the minotaurs flanked the hunter and lifted its arm to smash it down upon her.
The vines around Skaia evaporated in void light, and then she was above the minotaur crossing the distance in a blink long enough to make Ikora Rey's hum appreciatively.
The Void coalesced within her palm and she dropped it on top of the minotaur, who folded into itself and then evaporated.
Drinking in the residual Light, the hunter raised her hand towards the sky and called forth a burning hand cannon.
With three shots, the other minotaur was dead as well.
For a while Skaia stood there, chest heaving from the flood of adrenaline. She went to throw a victorious grin to the hunter, but before she could both her and the hunter's attention was drawn to the Heart, as it started shuddering, lighting running across its surface and grounding into the structure around it.
"It's running away!" Prospit shouted within Skaia's mind, zipping towards the heart.
Skaia's voice stuck in her throat, torn between warning her Ghost away from the fleeing heart, and advising which scans he should prioritize.
It was all for naught either way, as before he could even reach the heart, a bright flash of light filled the room, and when it faded the Heart was gone.
And so was the room they were in. In fact so was the entire Garden.
"We're back, on Mars!" the hunter's Ghost spoke, materializing next to his guardian.
Skaia heart seized in a brief moment of panic, but when she turned around she saw Prospit flying towards her, and she sighed in relief. The relief was short lived however, as she suddenly realized that she was not in the Garden anymore.
The hunter's Ghost continued speaking, but Skaia couldn't hear it anymore, the sudden absence of the Gardens whispers deafening like a gunshot.
It wasn't until Prospit bumped into her temple she startled back into present, and noticed the other ghost was looking at her expectantly.
"I... what?" she asked. The very air around her felt dead. She wanted to cry.
The Ghost looked at her with suspicions and then glanced over to Prospit who shifted nervously and Skaia became uncomfortably aware how the two of them looked.
Prospit clad in his shell of Thorn fragments looked about as far away from the soft, rounded shell wearing, persona he presented to everybody except Skaia as you could possibly get, and Skaia herself was not much better. Plants growing from nooks of her armor, hair long and unkempt, probably looking at least half as unhinged as she felt. It was not a flattering picture. Worse, it was also deeply suspicious one.
For his part however, the Ghost didn't bring this up and repeated himself instead: "I said, my name is Fortuna," he rolled the name on his tongue like he was trying to enjoy it. He must have got it quite recently, "And this is Dos-9." He motioned to his Guardian.
There was a beat of silence as Skaia tried to dig up her social skills from the vine-overgrown mess the Garden turned her brain into.
"My name is Prospit, and this is Skaia." Thankfully Prospit's mind was better designed than hers. And hey! With the other Ghost also leading the introductions, her not saying anything might seem natural! Yay!
Fortuna for his part didn't look convinced, glancing at his Guardian who seemed to really want to ask something, but couldn't quite find the right words. Skaia for her part found that faintly curious as she had never met a hunter who cared about saying stuff with the right words before.
"Well then!" Fortuna said after another uncomfortable moment. "I think we should go. The Speaker is calling us. Thanks for the save back there!"
Skaia managed to dig up enough of her human communication protocols to offer them a thumbs up, which must have been enough for the other Ghost, as he transmatted himself and his Guardian away to their ship.
Skaia groaned loudly, dropping her face into her hands and flopping down onto the ground which made her groan again.
The ground was hard and cold, and it was almost completely silent save for the whistling of the wind. She already missed the Garden.
"I don't think we should ever go back there" Prospit said probably picking up at least an echo of her longing.
Skaia dragged her hands across her face. She wanted to scream, and yell at her ghost, that of course they should return, they should return right now, leaving this dead deaddeaddead place behind.
But of course that was the very reason why they should stay away. "Not without a good reason." Skaia agreed grudgingly.
Beyond the pull of the Garden, the sluggishness of her brain and the faint worry about who the other Guardian will tell about this meeting, she was slightly shaken. She used to be good at resisting thralls, she had to be. She has grown complacent during her time in the Distributary, and in the following years living in a godless world, she could see it now.
Perhaps Mara was right, she thought, and then frowned, as she never remembered Mara saying anything like that.
"Idle thought: Mara Sov was right about us slash me growing complacent in the Distributary," she dictated to Prospit who gave an acknowledging chirp as he recorded it.
She didn't know how long she laid there, only started from her thoughts when Prospit transmatted her back to their ship.
The sight of familiar shelves, filled with artifacts of Light and Dark and magic completely unrelated to either, finally cleared her mind enough that she was able to think for what felt like the first time in centuries.
She sat up and shook her head, making a face as her hair rustled. She combed through it with her fingers dropping handfuls of leaves and bits of vine onto the floor making her grimace even further. She needed like, ten showers at least. Or maybe a nice cleansing depressurisation.
Standing up she motioned to Prospit who transmatted her armor away. Thankfully the undersuit was unblemished, and as Skaia combed the worst of the plant life from her hair and sat herself into the pilot seat she started to feel at least marginally human.
Rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes she keyed in the coordinates of the Last City into the the autopilot. She needed to see the City again and more importantly she need to see the Traveler again. If she was going to be this influenceable by eldritch, she could at least remind herself which eldritch being her soul belonged for now.